Walk On Water
by Omnitense
Summary: Post KOTOR Revan finds circumstances changing. He battles ruthlessly against Old Jedi Masters, against new fearsome forces from far away and struggles to keep the Sith from his throat, all the while unraveling his tangled past with Bastila at his side.
1. Chapter 1

_**I Don't Walk on Water**_

You may say I'm a miracle man again  
Here I come with my mystical plan again  
I know you think I can  
I'm just a man

You may say I'm a cynical charlatan  
There I go with my whimsical ways again  
Although you think I can  
I'm just a man   
I don't walk on water  
(Oh no)  
I don't walk on water  
(Oh no)

Revan watched through the fogged transparasteel window of the Ebon Hawk as the Star Forge exploded. Bastila was at his elbow. She sighed relief.

"It's over. We've won."

Revan looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Rather, I think we've been weakened."

Bastila looked up at him in confusion.

"How do you mean?"

"I don't have all the answers. My mind is fractured, but I fear this was as far from a victory as our enemies could hope."

Revan felt his consciousness take a dive and he fell into Bastila's arms. She pulled him onto one of the Ebon Hawk's dormitory beds.

"Rest then, until everything clears. Whether you've saved us all or doomed us, you have done enough for today."

She returned to the window and watched the floating debris.

"I've played my part in all of this. How weak am I?"

Chapter 1: Dead Can Dance

Savior of the Galaxy was the title placed on Revan. His shoulders were burdened with praise from the Republic to the Jedi Order. His friends and companions had endured similar praises from their peers. Even Canderous developed a reputation as the Republic's Mandalore, which he shunned. Bastila refused any order from the Jedi that brought her out of regular contact with Revan. Revan still had possession and command of the Ebon Hawk.

He was now standing alone on the balcony of his official apartment suite at Coruscant. It was night. And even with all the noise and lights, Revan was only slightly aware of Coruscant. He wasn't ignoring it, it was merely difficult to perceive; it was like trying to hear background noises like coughs and sneezes over an orchestral composition. This composition was taking shape and form in Revan's mind and it occurred to him that it was namely a requiem meant for not just Coruscant, but for all of Republic space. He had caught snatches of the overture during his ordeal with Star Maps but it seemed so much more subtle and hidden then. He felt that he should be able to determine it's nature now, but couldn't. He felt he should be able to name it or see it's face. Moreover he felt ashamed and disappointed that he could not identify it.

He heard footsteps behind him and to the left. Without turning he knew who it was.

"What are you looking at?" Came the melodious voice. It was soft and full formed in received pronunciation that sounded at times slightly haughty. Revan chuckled, perceiving the frown on her face.

"Looking is a strong word and indeed the wrong one. I merely glimpse, if that."

A concerned sigh and Bastila Shan joined him on the balcony. She was still fully attired in her uniform which was boasting it's recently acquired award. Her bottom lip was stuck out and her forehead furrowed.

"It's the visions again, then?"

Revan stared at his hand introspectively then curled the fingers to form a fist.

"Not even visions, Bastila. It's like peripheral vision."

"Perhaps just paranoia brought on by what has happened."

"I'm beginning to think…no. Never mind."

Bastila grabbed Revan's uniformed arm and turned him to reveal his face. It was a boyish face with blonde hair that had been ever so handsome and commanding yet still naïve. It bore lines of age and stress and looked deeply troubled. But Bastila had noticed that this was a recent development. Only since the destruction of the Star Forge and his old apprentice had Revan's features transformed. Bastila remembered when, on the Endar Spire she had unclasped the mask that covered the Dark Lord of Sith's face. Her very heart strung to find the demented hateful dying creature behind the mask. The creature that made it's last effort to take her life. She saw it die that day and it never truly returned. Those horrid features vanished. But these new ones were just as alarming.

"What are you beginning to think?"

"I-I just…" He stuttered, unwilling to say. His eyes looked uncertain and frightened. They flittered about until they found a scratch of resolve. "There is someplace I have to go. Something I have to…see for myself."

"If you think I'm going to let you go alone-"

Revan grabbed her by the shoulders and smiled down at her.

"It may come to that, yes." He pulled her into and embrace that was almost consolatory. "But I won't do anything foolish."

"You must be joking, me trust you not to do anything foolish!"

Revan retreated back into the apartment tearing the folded uniform from his chest and throwing it to the ground. Bastila walked back in to see him coming out of the wardrobe with an old Jedi robe wrapped around him.

"Stop!" She commanded.

Revan stopped immediately, as commanded, though irritated. He found that Bastila was using her knowledge of the force to control him more often. If the duel onboard the Star Forge had taught Bastila anything, it had taught her that Revan was more exposed and vulnerable to her than any other Jedi or Sith in the universe.

"You stop." He countered. "Stop abusing your powers over me!"

"Why are you leaving? If you don't tell me, then I swear I'll have Masters Vandar and Vrook detain you."

"I am going to find my mind. My old mind. I am missing something vital."

Bastila looked absolutely alarmed. She reached out into the force and slammed him into the wall behind him. She kept her hold, pinning him to the wall.

"There is…something…wrong." He managed.

Bastila, who was suddenly aware of what she was doing, released him.

"Look to your precious Masters Vandar and Vrook if you don't believe me. They know…if they don't then they are blind."

"Where will you go?"

"First to Korriban I sense there is-"

Her voice interrupted in a furry.

"You will never go to Korriban! Do you honestly think that you, of all people, can just wander around on Korriban?"

Revan pushed himself back up and reached for his belt that held his lightsaber when he felt Bastila's hand curl around his arm.

"No, you can't. If you need this with you then you are not going."

Revan looked up into Bastila's firm unyielding eyes. He could tell that this was one issue on which she would not budge. He looked down at the lightsaber. He remembered an odd voice that did not carry with it a name or a face. He heard it as clearly as he had heard Bastila, seconds ago. "A lightsaber does not make a JedI, and at times it makes them much much less than what they are."

He let his arm fall back to his side. He smiled and shook his head.

"I do not need it for what I do."

Her grip tightened

"Please don't do whatever you're doing. And if you must, then take me with you."

"Bastila, I will not! I am not abandoning you. There are some things about my past that must be faced and understood. I cannot…stagnate."

Her stare hardened and her grip tightened painfully.

"You will listen to what I have to say or you will not leave." She growled. "Neither you nor I are Jedi any longer. But I still feel the same destiny about you that I did when we met. I never told you that even traveling with you after you were…broken, I could foresee you saving the galaxy. I see that on you even now, whilst the galaxy has already been saved. Now that there are no more threats beyond the slight aftermath. Now that this destiny of yours should have been met and bested. If there is something that must still be done, then you will do it with me. If you have something to research let me help."

Revan knew the intense stare he'd see on her face if he bothered to look. He was reluctant to get too attached to Bastila. He believed in sacrifice far too much to have followers. But he also knew how addictive Bastila was. He didn't want to become too dependant on her should something unforeseen happen.

"You may come with me. It is nothing exciting, merely retracing steps and ancient history."

She smiled, relieved.

"History was my favorite subject."

It was mere hours before Bastila was piloting the Ebon Hawk with a complement of two droids and two lovers. HK-47 had busied itself with the analysis of over five-hundred terribly violent holovids and developing it's assessment and philosophy upon each one. T3-M4 had turned it's attention to storing and organizing a patchwork library of all the events that had taken place on the Ebon Hawk in the last year.

Revan was in meditation in the west dormitory. He could here Bastila's thoughts as she checked the hyperspace route to Korriban and then double-checked it. He could feel all the electrical animation of the Ebon Hawk as it surged through space.

"My old Master."

Revan heard the voice as if it emanated from the same room he was in. He shook out of his meditation and looked about. Then he felt it. A presence in the ship itself. An airy form of Malak materialized in front of him. Revan righted himself, battle ready.

"Your plans have been thwarted, you fool."

The creature flickered and disappeared as if it had been the product of tired eyes. Disbelieving, Revan waved his arm where the Dark Lord had been. Nothing. Just a passing ghost, a fleeting stigma of his old friend.

_To think he could have taught me twice what I know now if he would have let me save him. Why did he let me damn him and not save him?_

Revan warily resumed meditation. His mind flocking to the bits of the puzzle that made sense. His mind began to open like a rusted old chest. Visions poured in it.

He saw Mygeeto. He saw Malak and a younger version of himself next to a red- tinged droid. He heard his voice call out to Malak. The voice sounded strange, filled with more youth that it was now.

"I tinkered him together when I realized the Council would refuse to back us. I haven't decided on programming yet, but I've built him for the physical rigors of combat."

Malak looked the droid over interestedly.

"Is it on now?" He asked.

The young Revan nodded.

"It's active with only the most basic interactive patterns and a few personality randomizers."

Malak looked into the spiritless eyes of the droid.

"Droid, respond."

It clicked to life and turned it's head to address Malak.

"Statement: Greetings, I am HK-47."

Malak looking impressed, nodded at Revan. Revan gestured to Malak.

"Ask it something."

Malak smiled and then began to laugh nervously.

"I don't know what to ask… Droid what do you think of me?"

The droid's eyes blinked to life and the vocabulator warmed up.

"Statement: You are a sentient biological entity composed of mainly fluid and various combinations of protein. Observation: If I were to classify such an organism I would describe you as a meatbag."

Malak's face flushed with indignant anger while the young Revan began to laugh hysterically.

"That's not funny. Revan, it isn't funny!"

Half laughing Revan barked an order to the droid.

"HK-47, retain prior behavior pattern and overset the term organic with meatbag with exception to myself."

"Enough. Can we get back to the task at hand?"

The young Revan turned to Malak after ending his laughing fit.

"Do you think we will really find any crystals here?"

"It's doubtful that-"

The memory lapsed and faded leaving Revan back in Ebon Hawk dormitory. It was Bastila's puzzled voice that broke his trance. Revan looked up at her, she seemed disturbed.

"What did you see?"

The question struck Revan as odd, almost as if she was testing him.

"I saw Malak, HK and myself on Mygeeto. We were discussing crystals."

Her eyes dropped in disappointment and a sad frown formed on her face.

"I, myself, saw only a flickering image; I did not hear any sounds. Perhaps our bond is failing. Can you remember anything."

Revan thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Before our first engagement with the Mandalorians we secretly landed at Mygeeto to search for crystals for our new lightsabers. I recall the expedition was successful in that we found many crystals digging in the ash and ice in the caves. Finding the planet and landing was a difficulty, though." Revan stared where Malak had stood. "So odd how things come and go. When they do, we never seem to know why."

There stayed a heady silence aboard the Ebon Hawk. Bastila remained in the cock pit starring at endless charts and graphs of new routes and freshly charted planets. Revan, who had wandered around the ship, finally resettled in the east dormitory. He had procured a data pad from T3 and had been systematically reviewing selected material, the content of which he refused to expose to Bastila.

Revan laid the datapad down on one of the dormitory beds. It was the programming the Jedi had used after Malak had destroyed his mind. He had read it in the hopes that it would magnify the difference between what they had programmed him with and what he remembered. But it only magnified one thing that he remembered. He remembered being on Korriban with Malak. Also according to the records Deralia was his actual home planet. None of it restored any memory that should have been his, it didn't amplify or corroborate or unify any of his broken recollections and visions. Revan laid the datapad down in desperation.

"We're nearing Korriban."

Revan looked behind him after hearing the voice over the commsystem. A great red blasted world zoomed into view. A world that had seen so much but would not die. It was a great red blister in the galaxy. Revan rose and hit a button on the comm panel.

"I'm on my way. Set it down in the valley."

Revan raced to the cockpit to see the view descending into the atmosphere while Bastila carefully guided the Hawk down. He could feel so much beyond the deceptive emptiness of the planet below. He could feel millenniums of history and tradition, layers of taint and power, stains of desperation, madness and hatred all heaped onto the lonely red planet. But from the view of the surface there might not be a thing alive on the whole world. Perhaps a solitary beast or two, but no great semblance of life, and yet the place was not empty in the force. It was rich in the force like an empty floriluminum mine that still has the radiation of it's former resource yet all the source material has been removed. The planet may only be a stigmata of the force filled with power and memory but no cause or source. No greater direction to give the awesome presence of the force manifestation and form. Revan examined Bastila's face. He could see a vain attempt to maintain composure, but also could read the same feelings he felt, on her face, yet he had been on Korriban at least twice before and as far as he knew this was Bastila's first time. Last he was here, Bastila was captive.

"There's a small ionic storm forming in our wake, so don't be surprised if you get a little lightening and thunder on the surface."

Revan nodded, barely paying attention. He was focusing on the fact that this was his third time on Korriban and yet he remembered only one other instance. It was a disturbing thing, there was no telling what horrors he wrought last he was here, who was killed or what foul thing was done.

He saw the Valley of the Sith Lords come into view. Bastila landed the Hawk at the end of the valley where there was an empty level space. He felt the thud of the landing and felt the planet surface contact him like one electrified wire touching another.

"Do you want me come with you?"

Revan thought for a moment then shook his head.

"This is something I must do alone. I don't mean this as an insult, but you distract me, Bastila. When I am around you, then you are the focal point of my thoughts and all other thoughts have to make their way around you."

Bastila smiled to herself and nodded.

"I'll be waiting for you."

Revan grabbed her shoulder and gave it a loving squeeze.

"I will try not to be too long, but until I am back, keep the hatch locked and HK-47 active. Something is very wrong here and I want to err on the side of caution."

Revan felt so many things here that should be examined as he looked across the inimical dusty surface. The desiccating air of red planet felt hot and abrasive. The moment his feet touched the fine layer of dust covering the pathway, he felt a quiver in the force. It was as if something had altered. The deepening lane of the future tilted and through the unifying force there was heard an eerie rumbling as destinies realigned. Perhaps it was the locale, but Revan couldn't help but believe the change was for the worst. It begged the question of what it was on the world that when in contact with himself would cause such a change.

Revan closed his eyes and reached out into the force so that he, like a blind man, might feel for a path or perhaps a trail of breadcrumbs. He felt the various prints in the immediate area, some were brutish and large some were ancient and fading but one was sharp and devious. It was hidden in a place where one would scarce want to look. It was a small wonder that he did not sense it last he was here. He felt the old presence like an aroma of blood. Rather than an imprint it was as if this creature willingly carved his image and presence into the valley. Anyone who dared look into the unifying force in this place would see those yellow predatory eyes looking back. It stood hooded in black with a young face that was handsome and yet dangerous. Words came, but they were not the words of a mortal man, they were too devoid of humanity, they were the words of a blood hungry god. The words, themselves, seemed fractured and interrupted.

"This is…insurance. Do not… The weaklings thought.. Jedi… Blind.. Unworthy of…Force." The creature ceased speaking and turned to face Revan. It's hooded eyes widened in surprise. "What has happened? Why…here? Where is…fool Malak?"

Submitting himself to the gaze of this abomination was making him feel sick. He mustered himself to call out in answer.

"Malak is dead. The Jedi attacked and Malak turned on me. My mind was damaged."

The creature stared, it's eyes burning.

"Curse…fools. ….the collective…of a …crowd of gizka." The thing continued to spill broken oaths and curses against Malak and all the important Jedi Masters, which it began to name off one by one with it's own unique and creative curses.

"What will I do?" Asked Revan, interrupting.

He saw the creature turn it's eyes back upon him and approach. It kneeled and placed a hand on him. Revan could swear he felt cold blistering on his shoulder as sweat began to run down his back. It's face came close to Revan's ear. He heard the following:

"…The…edge. Xendor's…not true sith..unworthy…..powerful cowards. …search the massassi temple."

It vanished. Revan opened his eyes and felt the sickness well up in him. He gave forward and retched. That thing had been him only years ago. Revan was overcome with a powerful urge to leave this ghost planet. He was by far unready to delve any deeper. He had expected the truth to be…kinder. He had another errand to attend to that would help him forestall what must be done here.

Bastila had the datapad that Revan had been pouring over minutes ago. It contained his programming. She tossed it back upon the bed. She had read it before though she was told to disavow any knowledge of it. It seemed to her then, and certainly now, like a cheap low trick card to play, especially for venerable Jedi Masters. The majority of it was Vandar's deviousness. It felt odd for her to pass judgment on Jedi Masters. But such an act displayed two things: fear and lack of power. Not once did they bother to probe Revan's ways. They backed away from the Mandalorian war so they could meditate on it but never did they attempt to understand one who has already, twice, proven greater than the sum of them. They merely reprogrammed his mind to conform back to their ways.

Bastila rose from the bed. It was small wonder why she left the order. The hypocrisy of the Masters and their teachings made her shudder. It's an irony that their actions of cowardice and fear best represent their enemy than themselves.

The pneumatics of the loading ramp gave a hiss as it lowered. Bastila ran outside the dormitory to see Revan standing somewhat the worse for wear. His hair was matted and his eyes looked wild and unsettled.

"You haven't been here for more than a standard hour!"

Revan walked past her, into the astrogation room and sat in a chair. Bastila sat next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. In response he shook his head.

"I was not warmly received."

"Revan, lets go back to Coruscant. There are no more threats for the galaxy."

He stalked away to the west dormitory, his chin clutched in his hand. Bastila had thought he was going to meditate some more when he returned with a question on his face.

"Did the council know I was from Deralia?"

Bastila's face did a double-take. How did he expect her to know? The datapad hadn't mentioned Deralia.

"Revan, the council knew next to nothing about you. Malak probably knew you best."

Revan formed a fist and swung it through the holographic astrochart. After he watched the scattered holograph reassemble he sat down and held his face in his hands.

"Where did they get the name Deralia?" He said through his fingers.

She raised her hands in an ignorant shrug.

"They might've known something but they would've never told me. Perhaps you remembered it on your own."

He turned back to her.

"Could you contact them? Contact Master Vandar and ask him the specifics."

Bastila scoffed.

"I doubt he would want you to know anything about your past."

Revan's eyes narrowed in frustration and anger. The idea that the Jedi wouldn't reveal to him his past was ridiculous but of course he knew Bastila was right.

"That is hardly his concern. It's not his past to delegate, it is mine."

Bastila's eyes lowered in submission. She knew he would be as stubborn about this as was necessary and she really couldn't think of a reason to refuse him.

"I will try."

He nodded, his anger subsiding.

"That is all any reasonable person may ask. I will be in the west dormitory."

Revan folded his legs underneath him and laid his arms in his lap. He was alone in the dormitory and had sealed the door upon entering. He relaxed his muscles and opened up to the swirling tendrils of the force. He could feel his mind slide from the Ebon Hawk west dormitory. He felt his consciousness lift out of his head, his body crackling to a paralyzed numbness. He dared to closed his eyes. One thought, or even less than a thought entered his mind. Malak.

He saw his old friend cloaked in a dark black tunic with his orange lightsaber to his belt. The lightsaber that would eventually turn red. Malak had a nervous confused smile on his face as he followed a dark hooded figure. Malak's voice rang out in the warm soft tone of a friend rather than an apprentice.

"What is this, Revan? This place feels cold and threatening. We should be in Ragnos' tomb; the map is most likely hidden there."

A dark gurgling voice floated from the cloaked figure. The voice, unlike Malak's was bristling with hate and power. It spoke to an apprentice rather than a friend.

"It's true, the map is in Ragnos' tomb, but there is something important here as well. Something very important. It is the why to our precious Star Forge."

"But Revan, the Mandalorians."

"Fool! You see the…"

The figure stopped and turned on Malak. The hood of the cloak was pulled so far over that no face could be made out in the dark. Malak hated seeing his friend like this, it unnerved him. It made him consider that leaving the order might have been a mistake. The figure raised a hand to stop Malak. The figure rotated the palm up in a peaceful gesture.

"I apologize, friend. The Mandalorians are but a symptom. Look at their bloodthirsty rampage. You know that pulse of bloodlust well, do you not?. Remember what happened on Nar Shaddaa. Poor Endo. You cut him down with no more compunction than stepping on a bug."

Malak's face faltered and blushed slightly.

"What of Endo?"

The figure's hand disappeared into the sleeve of his black cloak as he lowered it.

"What caused that event?"

"He threatened us!"

The figure was silent for a time before the voice floated from it again.

"No! He merely wished for five credits. Yet you attacked him. Why?"

"He wore a carbine that could've easily been sold for fifty and he brandished it at us! Why must you kick me like this? Have I not been ever faithful, no matter your darkness?"

"My Darkness?" The creature hissed. "Endo was not then, nor ever had been, in any stage of his pitiful spice-smuggling life, a threat to either you or me. Think! What caused you to attack him? What was, through the shadows of the force, urging you to violence? Examine and treat the symptom, of course, but find the cause, the source."

Malak stopped in thought and then looked up in absolute horror.

"You!"

The figure's hands reappeared to pull his hood back revealing a dark gray blistered face with yellow eyes stinging with hate. There was an approving smile on that face.

"Do you know why?" It said with a sneer.

"Betrayal! Revan, I wished to avoid this. You are not yourself."

Malak drew his lightsaber and the blade sprang to a deadly orange glow.

"Are you going to kill me, Malak? I don't think you should."

Malak's face was swollen with desperation and maybe one or two tears fell from his watery eyes. The lightsaber powered down.

"What have you done, Revan? Why couldn't we just be strong and do what the council could not?"

Revan's smile disappeared and a look, of what could've been sorrow, replaced it.

"That my friend is exactly what must be done. I prompted you to kill Endo in order that you would look for the cause. I did it so this very vital lesson would not be lost on you. If you disapprove of my methods then I suggest you learn from the Jedi. Their response to this veiled force was fear. The Jedi are similar to us in that neither of us are what we should be or were meant to be. If the Jedi were as they should be, then we would never have left. I watched the Jedi when Onderon fell. They did nothing. And do you know why?"

"No." Malak admitted.

"Because in their pacified wisdom they failed to see how to treat the symptom and search for the cause. They saw the same marks I saw, but were terrified and too fully sunk in their own maudlin impressions of the force to take action. They knew that the Mandalorians had not just decided to attack. There was no sign that they had any intention of countering or taking steps against utter destruction. In that moment, Malak, I saw it! Jedi weakness. They were afraid. Afraid of something that will attack at the slightest show of weakness. Even my own connection to the force had been shaken. I felt the same weakness they did, Malak."

Malak stirred nervously.

"There is not enough strength and initiative in the Jedi ways. You know, Malak. You've seen weakness and pacifism in action, do you think that such a force will meet an aggressive force? Do you think the weakling Republic will be able to turn aside disaster or even survive the Mandalorians? Walk with me on the only path of decisive power! The power to meet aggression without fear."

The figure held out it's hand, as if welcoming Malak. Malak saw the hand and sadness and anger traded places on his face.

"I-I am always with you, Revan."

The figure smiled and his eyes widened.

"Come with me, Darth Malak."

Malak reached out to take the hand with his right hand. But Revan saw his left hand. He saw it wrap back around the lightsaber. He smiled.

"I knew you would see the truth, Malak. And-"

Malak ignited his lightsaber and swung it at Revan's face, but the lightsaber met Revan's own glistening red saber in a parry. Malak looked up into his old friend's face. Hate and strength sparked from those yellow eyes, no fear, no peace, no mercy.

"The Power."

Revan twisted his grip on Malak's saber and pushed over Malak's defense and slashed Malak's face. Malak's face shattered into seared pieces and Malak, himself, fell to the ground. Revan looked at the fallen Malak with sadness.

"I try and fail, Malak. I must admit that I cannot make you see, just as I could not make the Jedi see. But if you cannot assist as I intended, you will at least make a formidable pawn. You could have aided me against the-"

The vision faded back to the Ebon Hawk lonely dormitory.

"No dammit! NO!"

Revan whirled up and punched the durasteel wall of the dormitory. Bastila rushed into the room with alarm on her soft features.

"Are you alright, my love? What's wrong?"

Revan braced his back against the wall and began to slide down it holding his head with his hands.

"It's maddening. I was so close."


	2. Chapter 2

-1Chapter 2: Every Planet We Reach is Dead

HK-47 looked up from his scanner as he saw the Master storm by him. The Master's wench was launching the ship so soon after having just landed. The insane little tin bucket had been surreptitiously meandering about the ship, presenting very little conversation during HK's horrendously boring stint aboard the Hawk. In fact, HK had to admit that he seemed to be doing little other than occupying space. Apart from the Master telling him to guard over the Jedi witch, he had no real assignments. Of course the same could be said of the Astrometric droid, but the faulty little trash compactor was, oh so, easily amused and occupied. He had no higher functions that were wasting away from disuse. He was unable to understand the significance of glorious decimation and death.

Though his programming had reservations about badgering the Master, who had become strangely introverted and silent, he could of course bother the witch. His metal body marched forward to the cockpit to reveal the female, eyes closed in meditation, while the ship was drifting in orbit around Korriban. HK inwardly joyed at the thought of interrupting her clichéd Jedi trance.

"Observation: It has come to my attention that you and the Master have forged a relationship in spite of the current set of mawkish Jedi beliefs."

Keeping her composure an trying to maintain focus an inarticulate growl escaped her meditation.

"Observation: It has come to my attention that the Master has become silent and ineffective as of late. One might call him impotent as a source for adventure and violence."

Again no response as HK tested Bastila's strength of focus and command of her senses. Observing the lack of entertaining responses, HK decided to push something more volatile.

"Threat: If I find evidence that you, yourself, are behind this pattern of distressing behavior in the Master, then my programming would demand nothing less than the removal of your life."

Bastila, forcing a calm exterior, replied in a soft unthreatening voice. She knew better than to answer HK with another threat. If she did that she would ultimately have to fight the pinnacle of droid combat software and hardware.

"I have noticed his behavior and I choose to interpret your 'threat' as the voice of concern. And for what it is worth, I do not know why he is acting this way."

HK felt disgusted by the sleek and slimy diplomatic response. It was so Jedi-like in it's non-responsive passivity. No counter threat was offered by the witch! HK could not name any other species or member of any meatbag society that was quite so repulsive, certainly no group that would have left a threat unanswered.

"Ultimatum: Either you use your current standing relationship to fix the Master in the next standard week or I will voice my concern with a repeating carbine."

Having felt that she had borne enough upon oneness of mind and calmness, Bastila whirled up from the pilot seat.

"If your concern is so deep seated why don't you investigate yourself. And in the future you will leave our…relationship out of discussions."

HK, feeling gratified at having finally prodded the witch to action, couldn't let it stop yet, besides he had hit a sensitive subject.

"Consoling Statement: It must be so hard for a Jedi witch to fall in meatbag love."

Bastila caught herself on the edge of sending HK flinging through the corridor to the Astrogation chamber. Summing up her anger and discarding it, she responded.

"I give you leave to go talk with your 'Master'. Maybe you can find something useful to do."

HK having explored conversation with the witch as long as he could tolerate, pranced away towards the West Dormitory. Ostensibly, it was the Master's personal quarters, however, he got the impression that the Master occasionally shared it with the witch. Upon entering, he noticed the Master kneeling on the floor. HK had to disapprove; any wanton renegade assassin who infiltrated through the vast smuggling components and storage spaces on the ship would have a clear uninterrupted shot at the Master now. Before HK was able to speak, the voice of the Master called out slightly annoyed.

"Yes, HK?"

The droid clattered closer to the Master to avoid being overheard by wandering ears.

"Concerned Observation: It has come to the witch's and my attention that you have exhibited unusual behavior patterns for the typical organic." HK allowed himself to say the distasteful word 'organic' out of respect. 'Organic' was such a horrendous misnomer whereas 'meatbag' was unfalteringly perfect and fitting. Revan ceased his meditation to look up at HK with some amusement.

"I am merely encountering the failings of being a meatbag, as you would put it."

HK nodded, as if in understanding and agreement.

"Inquiry: Is there anyone I can assassinate to help you master?"

Revan shoved himself off the floor so he could sit on the edge of one of the beds.

"If all life's problem's could be solved by such simple violent actions then you would undoubtedly be the greatest achievement ever. However, I am beginning to think you would have been more efficient had I programmed you with other capabilities."

HK felt greatly injured. The Master had implied not only that not every problem could be solved by violence, but also that his own programming was incomplete. Something was wrong indeed with the Master. Even at his own admission, the Master was suffering failures at his own inept design.

"Inquiry: What problem is it that cannot be solved with blasters, Master?"

Revan looked down in embarrassment. He felt embarrassed at the idea that he had created HK, such a simple-minded single-minded tool. Apart from being horribly childishly violent, he was useless. Granted that HK could plot out amazingly complex webs of violence that rivaled even his own ingenuity, he was by no means versatile.

"Do you remember when I found you on Tatooine?"

"Affirmation: Yes, Master. I did not recognize you due to the restraints in my programming."

Revan stared at the cold android in front of him. How similar they were. He too had been as cold a killer, if not, then colder, and yet had lost his memory due to programming.

"My memory, too, has been so restrained." Revan brought his hand up to rub his head in an attempt, it seemed, to massage the memories back. "I cannot recall so much, and it was all so important. Do you recall being on Mygeeto?"

"Affirmation: I have a partial memory of being there when I was first activated. In a sense, Mygeeto would have been my birthworld, to use the meatbag term."

"Partial memory." Revan thought. He knew that he had never truly confided in HK with details because they could be so easily retrieved by others. "I do not even have a partial memory… I merely have what I have seen in a-a waking vision. I did not recall the incident until yesterday."

"Suggestion: There was one instance on Phragmoghra VI that you had enjoyed immensely before you had committed yourself to the Republic. I believe you said the various indigenous fruits were spectacular. Various species of fruit including local drupes and pomes were your favorite along with an aquatic fruit called the Moghra Emerald. Also on Yeala you enjoyed hunting the native fleeha. Admission: I confess, though, that I cannot distinguish any single event of any importance to you or that would contribute to your self-identity."

'Phragmoghra.' He thought. There was a familiarity in that name that shocked him. The name was the next destination of the Hawk.

Not even bothering to continue the conversation with the puzzled droid, he raced to the cockpit to find Bastila who was meditating in her chair. Upon his entering, she called out of her trance.

"Master Vandar claims ignorance about Deralia by saying it was the world you were found on by the local Enclave and that you had said it was your home."

Revan laid his hand on Bastila's shoulder.

"We're going to Phragmoghra VI."

Phragmoghra VI was the sixth and sole life-supporting planet in a system with a blue sun according to the charts. From Koriban, the distance to close was relatively short. It wasn't long before Bastila was bringing the ship to a shaky descent into the lush atmosphere and landing it the spot that Revan had specified. It was not hard to see why Revan had selected it, because of the entire surface in the particular hemisphere it was the only patch of dry land.

The landing ramp lowered to reveal Bastila and Revan holding hands. Inside the Ebon Hawk, when the ramp lowered it revealed a multicolored shimmering watery paradise of emerald greens and sapphire blues. The vegetation seemed almost jeweled and the brackish swamp in front of them looked like a gigantic series of teal splotches against the gold, green and blue flora. There were no trees visible, so the swamp seemed to extend forever.

Bastila rubbed her eyes. It was gorgeous and yet somehow fake looking. Or Perhaps it's not that it looked fake, maybe it was only that her brain refused to comprehend something so bright and beautiful as real.

"If my memories serve, then this place has no native sentient lifeforms. It has a complicated system of predators, though. The only people on this planet are refugees, explorers and people looking to profit from the vast resources here.

Bastila and Revan walked down from the landing pad and observed their surroundings. The Ebon Hawk had been landed on one of the few visible patches of totally dry land which was surrounded by great gray boulders covered in veins of some yellow mineral.

Of in the distance you could see large dangerous-looking aquatic reptiles looping through the marshes searching for food. Revan pointed them out and spoke to Bastila like a teacher to a student, or a parent to a child.

"Greater Morphidios. Don't worry they only eat ectothermic creatures like themselves." Revan pointed to the surrounding plant life which was a dark orange and grew like a tall submerged plant would with a long woody stalk. "Promisstensus reeds, they make a spicy tea if you know how to get their roots without being bitten."

"Bitten?"

"Certainly. This is a wetland area. There all sorts of hidden venomous predators that will attack if provoked."

Bastila stared at Revan in an appraising fashion, but Revan didn't notice as he was overlooking the vast marsh. In his mind, he was asking himself the very same question that Bastila was asking herself. 'Why did he know this area so well?' Snapping out of his introspection, Revan turned to meet Bastila's stare. His eyes were bright and his voice came out excited.

"Are you hungry?"

Revan walked to the edge of the dry land and reached out into a green plant that had run along the land. He walked back with three fruits in his hands. The fruits were green and transparently filled with nothing but a liquid.

"Moghra Emerald. The seeds are microscopic but are kept suspended in a sugar-rich liquid. They only activate when in contact with the salt marshes which they drop into when fully mature."

Bastila took the fruit and brought it to her mouth and bit in to it. The fruit exploded, splashing her with a perfuming juice. Revan chuckled as he pulled part of his robe up and wiped the stuff off.

"Here, you have to make an incision because the skin is too tight and thin."

Revan stooped to the ground and picked a sharp rock. Using the rock, he slit the skin of the fruit in his hand. Putting the fruit to his lips he sucked the juice out until all that was left was the empty skin.

"The Goreign ferment this with Felucian yeast and sell it as Emerald Wine. I prefer it in it's natural state, but then I was never one for spirits."

Revan handed her a fruit which he had opened. She took it and looked into it's deep green center.

"Revan, why are we here?"

Revan laid his hand against one of the rocks. It was scarred with a burnt X. He knew on simple instinct it was the mark of a lightsaber. Someone had barely singed the rock with the mark, presumably to indicate something. But it meant nothing to him. Returning from his thoughts he called back in answer.

"I do not know, but I feel the pull of the force…or…something else pulling through the force. Using it."

Bastila put the open cut on the fruit to her lips and sucked. It had a light syrupy sugary taste that was tart with citrus. It tasted…green. The very flavor embodiment of green. She felt herself groan with the taste, it was the single most pleasing taste she had experienced. Her eyes closed as she nursed on the fruit. Noticing her state, Revan smiled and launched back into lecture mode.

"It's laced with laudacea, a mild euphoric drug that affects how you taste it, to the mood it leaves you." His voice began to trail off. "It's slightly addictive…she would only let me consume two in a day, and only two days a week." Bastila's eyes shot open to see a surprised look on Revan's face.

"Who?"

Revan's eyes dropped and he shook his head.

"I do not…know." He paused for a second and gazed back across the landscape. "No. I do remember. It was my mother. It was just us two. We lived here for a time before…"

Revan grabbed his head in frustration. He felt the building urge to slam his head against something that would set it in order. Perhaps if he could turn Bastila to the dark side and climb aboard a ship and let her shoot him down as the Jedi came to the rescue. Maybe some complex combination of head traumas would return his memory, if only some restorative drug somewhere could…

"It's gone. I'm not even sure if I've ever been here before. This is just a waste of time." Bastila wrapped her arms around him from behind. He could feel her squeeze just slightly.

"You may not remember the answers, but you've already proven you know where to look to find them. Just keep looking."

Revan's head lowered as he caressed Bastila's hand affectionately.

"You have shown the patience of a thousand Jedi Masters, Bastila. You've granted me grace, patience and privacy to discover these secrets. Long ago on some other quest I may have been your strength, but you've been my very pillar. I owe you much more then what I have given you for your trouble."

Bastila spun Revan around and lifted herself up by his shoulders till their lips met. Perhaps some woman a thousand lightyears away was kissing a man that she loved half as much as Bastila loved Revan. Perhaps their kiss was second to this one, but not nearly as delayed nor as passionately executed. It was not a violent smashing of lips that some vulgar barbarians practiced on so many solar systems across the galaxy. It was a soft heartfelt kiss that was placed with the pure gentle love from lovers who were fairly knew to the experience. Yet there was a sad wisdom in the kiss, a knowing of an underlying futility and a darker foreshadowing of a tragic unfulfilled love. A love that this kiss nor a thousand as passionate could not bring to fruition because destiny would eventually push the lips apart. When this was realized Bastila whispered a shuddery 'I love you'. That only made Revan hug her tighter.

"Interuption: Master this is the world where you once revealed to me was your home for a time."

Bastila lowered down and Revan's eyes glanced up, slightly annoyed.

"I had pieced that together, yes."

HK-47's programming had never included the sort of tact that he professed to use, nor any sort of subtlety or grace becoming of a supposed protocol droid.

"Announcement: Then I shall leave you with the witch to continue your gross display. I shall be in the astrogation chamber, until I am needed."

Revan wandered back to the scar upon the boulder. He ran his finger through the mark. Something about the landscape, the colors and the strong salty smell told him that a quintessential element of the planet was missing. The scenery he saw as he stood there was different then his half-memory recalled. The planet felt empty and as he stared into the pool only a foot from his position he could see a face appear. It was shapely molded and sleek with eyes that seemed pulled back and sharp. Black hair rained down from it's head and pursed slightly smiling lips beamed from it's face.

A chill ran down Revan's spine as he turned away towards Bastila.

"Let's leave, there is nothing here. This planet is empty."

A soft pricking of the wind rose as he walked toward the landing ramp. A cold feeling in his heart reminded him of that daunting ghostly presence of his mother. In that instance he remembered a shard of the old woman. She was cold and aloof in her manner but was motherly in that she had taught and cared for him; though, it was something other than love in her heart. Something much more devious and…quietly scheming.

Revan risked a last glance behind him as the ramp rose back into the ship carrying him with it. He looked askance at Bastila.

"Take us out into orbit for a spell. We will be going to Deralia soon enough but I want a moment's rest. You should rest too."

Bastila walked away to the cockpit. Revan turned to the left to the east dormitory. Sleep, he needed sleep. He needed his mind to turn from shattered memories. He reminded himself how long it had been since he had slept. Space travel could be so disorienting and deceiving; it seemed it had been only ten or so hours, but he could feel exhaustion.

He slipped underneath the thin bed sheet after having removed his boots. He felt the aching relief as he closed his eyes and stretched. He felt for the panel on the underside of the bed and switched the lights off. He let the drone of the ship wash out the silence of the room. He focused on the undulating flexing noise of a small freighter rising to orbit drown out the bothersome thoughts cluttering his mind. It was those very same thoughts that could stall him forever if he focused on them. The questions that leapt at him. He couldn't defend himself from the massive gaps and deficiencies in answers. They were great vulnerabilities and chinks in his armor. With Jedi ease he rinsed his mind of thoughts and relaxed his muscles. Sleep was gracious for such a tired person.

Revan saw before him a throng of hate uniformed in gray. Their eyes were as cold as dead blades. They awaited something as told by the hunger in the air. Revan felt enclosed. He raised his gloved hand and inspected it. He felt the trappings of boots around his ankles, of a heavy suit decorated with invented awards, of a thick shadowy cloak with a hood, of a shielding mask.

Their was a rising chant among the horde. Revan. They were waiting on him to lead them. Advisors and guards were posted around him. Banners hung behind him with the symbol of a gloved fist over a red background. Next to him stood a jawless Malak who oversaw the masses with a covetous jealousy. Independently of his will, his fist rose to the air calling for silence. A black echo carried over the heads of the Sith army before him. His echo.

"I have beneath me, slain Mandalorian corpses." He gestured to the army. "Corpses you have made. Before me, I have the Republic. Corpses that made themselves. Their weakness and impotence was grotesque. You witnessed it. It hindered you in battle, you could feel it holding you back. Trying to snatch victory from your hands and gift it to your foes as if they, not you, were worthy of it. We cannot let democratic weakness threaten us any longer; they must be destroyed. Slaughtered to the last Senator, ripped from every position of power and replaced with you. The rot of complacency and pacifism has destabilized the galaxy. That fetid rot could only stem from the heart of the Republic, the soul of dormancy, the seed of Jedi weakness. I saw this weakness and overcame it, the Galaxy must do the same. Death! Death! Death!" The crowd took up the call of death, the vibrations carrying through their bones. Revan could feel the chant in his heartbeat. With every fiber of his body he felt murder.

Revan's woke with his hand latched to his hair which was wet with sweat. It was only now that he remembered why he had avoided sleep. He rose and walked to the panel at the end of the row of beds. Touching a spot on the wall, it shifted back to reveal a shower stall, which began spray steamy water.

He removed his belt, unfolded his robes and shrugged them off into his right hand. He opened a receptacle next to the shower stall and stuffed them in it. He squeezed into the stall which was, even for one as lean as himself, small. It became only smaller when the panel slid back shut. The water felt cool to his skin, but not cold. The sweat washed away and his hair was washed by the water which was saturated with a cleansing agent and an emulsifier, the same chemicals that were now washing his robes. Feeling through his bond with Bastila, he could feel her entering the room.

Bastila saw the unmade bed with the belt thrown onto it. The sound of the shower behind the panel sounded so tempting she thought about taking one in the other dormitory. She called out to the panel.

"We've reached Deralia, I've obtained permission to land."

A reply was made, but she could not understand it. Her hand touched the panel and the stall divider slid open to reveal a soaked Revan. He exited the shower and touched the command pad on the wall. It issued a towel which he grabbed and used to quickly scrub himself dry. A chime sounded and his robe issued from the panel which he donned slightly quicker than normal.

Bastila had to admit to herself that she was slightly impressed at Revan's rather muscular build and physical makeup. Shaking the remaining water from his head, he called out through his hands as he wiped his face.

"Have you made contact with Enclave?"

Bastila snapped back and nodded.

"No. There is no longer an Enclave. I made contact with the old man who keeps the only landing pad in the area."

Revan buckled his belt and then turned full attention to Bastila.

"What happened to the Enclave?"

"The Enclave was pillaged by some of the former students, apparently. No hostiles."

Revan focused on what Bastila was saying to him. It sounded ominous to him, and he was beginning to tire of things looking ominous.

"Students?"

Bastila nodded as she laid down a datapad she had been carrying.

"According to Master Vandar the main damage was done by a novice named Aero-Kerre Rokaine, who had a sense of 'Renegade Justice'."

The name meant nothing to Revan. But then it sounded like it was significantly before his time and the Masters at Dantooine were never in the habit of discussing much in the way of their own affairs with Padawans.

"Renegade Justice?" Revan asked with a bemused expression.

Bastila cleared her throat.

"That was Master Vandar's phrase. He did not say anymore."

Revan smiled roguishly and rubbed his chin.

"Very well, we shall have to see for ourselves, which was undoubtedly Master Vandar's intent."

Revan touched a panel on the far wall to reveal his meager wardrobe. He grabbed his old black overcloak and tucked himself in it and closed the panel. The cloak was old, big and a little stiff from disuse; but it carried away the effect he desired, as it made him seem like a wavy shadowy giant. It was, by far, not a garment constructed or worn by Jedi. Some garments were meant to build off of camouflage and allow a consular or guardian to walk unnoticed and most Jedi prized these garments as an incredible use of a tailor's power. Still there were garments meant to capitalize off of intimidation and make the wearer imposing. The old cloak was the latter. Revan couldn't truly remember where or when he had received it, but he did know that, owning his reputation, he was far more likely to inspire fear than to go unnoticed.

"What are you doing?" Bastila asked indicating, with distaste, the old cloak.

"It's raining where we are going to land, which is about four kilometres southwest of the old Enclave, if you would be so kind."

Bastila's face turned stony and with a slight harrumph, she left, presumably to land the ship. Revan saw fit to lie to her about the cloak, but he loved the feel of it around him. Revan smirked to himself, '_After all_,' He thought. '_It is raining_.'

He felt better now that he was far away from Korriban. He felt playful, energetic and perhaps a little relieved. The worrying puzzles seemed faded and distant.

Closing and securing the fearsome cloak around himself, he assembled the rest of his gear and made his way to the cockpit.

Deralia was one of those nondescript green worlds teeming with average life choked with great vines and trees. Water cascaded down, sifting through the great trees above and soaked the soil making it light, soggy and impossible to traverse cleanly. Large finger sized worms wriggled and gasped in the wet leaves and top sod, tricked by the rain into thinking there to be a few more layers of dirt that there was. Odd ringing birdcalls softly echoed through the woods ahead.

The landing pad for the Enclave was embedded in the woods. It was little more than a great abandoned slab of durasteel with black scars and dents on it. All the paint had long since disappeared along with any landing lights that it might have had. It looked equipped to tend to several ships at a time but seemed as though it hadn't seen a single one in an age.

Revan felt the water in the air latch to him and cling to his face. He could smell the water in the air. None of it was the slightest bit familiar and he couldn't help think that if he had been born here he would've known. It felt connected though. As if only a few degrees of separation were between him and this empty place.

He felt Bastila's hand grasp his right shoulder.

"The compound is four kilometers down that over there."

She pointed to an old beaten wooden bridge that continued on into the dense forest. It was only a good two years from collapsing, from what Revan could see.

"If you would come with me?"

Bastila eyes met his in a warning glance that told him little.

"I have a bad feeling and have an agenda of my own. I will stay here. If anything should happen I will take the speeder and…"

She trailed off looking into the woods. It was the sort of woods, she figured, where predators stayed just out of sight until the last moment. To say that the Order was no longer present on this world was slightly understating the matter. Her eyes returned to Revan's curious face.

"Just be careful. If you need me. I will know and I will come in a hurry."

Revan nodded. He felt what Bastila had felt and like her he let it go unnoticed. Something was disturbing about how utterly the Order had abandoned this planet. It would take a powerful student to have driven the Order away.

He started towards the bridge when he heard the loading ramp retract and latch. It reminded him of her odd words. His minds slowly grinding as he made his way down to the bridge.

'_What is she planning. It has to do with something Vandar told her._' His mouth sneered and he thought on Vandar with dislike._ 'How much more interfering can he become?_'

The bridge was a rope bridge that connected the edge of the landing pad with a path of crushed rocks that wandered far into the woods. He reminded himself of the Twi'lek proverb Zhar had him recite when he was told of the dreaded Darth Revan.

"Amende de vahight exo gamizan zuchen tans." (In healing a scar, take into account what was the wound.) Now Vandar was the scar. It was clear to Revan that this planet was not totally abandoned. Something remained. Another scar.

Revan walked the path for a good half-hour, using large quick strides, before he came to both the path and the forest's end.

Beyond the forest was a rolling plain with a blasted Jedi Academy that had been sacked and forgotten years upon years ago. It's suave mushroom-shaped Coruscant architecture was cracked and crumbling. But to tell the truth the place wasn't decaying, it was decayed. But even from the forest's edge he could spy people loitering and wandering around inside the ruins. They were wearing rags.

Following a well worn path in the soggy grass he made his way to the gate and passed through it's remains. He was noticed immediately and several figures scattered to hide under rubble and dive into alleyways.

Choosing to ignore them for the moment, Revan proceeded past the courtyard to the Enclave entrance. There was no door to open, just a hole. The reception hall was bare marble floors and leaning walls. All furniture had been plundered. Revan continued into what must have been a meditation chamber. A large spire-like fountain stood as only a dry monument. Nothing else was in the room except piles of torn rags that must've been beds. Continuing on, Revan came to the Enclave Counsel-minori. The circle of chairs showed no evidence that they had ever been used. Through the door on the other side, Revan came to the Archives. He was taken aback when he found this room occupied with twenty people or so. They were hidden in the alcoves of the library and bundled in shredded clothes. At the end of the room, where once was the archivist's desk, was pedestal that held what Revan would've called a throne. On it, sat a young woman attired in an immodest robe of green and purple fleece. Her features were fresh and clean and held a certain base appeal. Her golden hair hung behind her in a long royal ponytail. Her eyes were indifferently fixed upon Revan.

All eyes were on Revan as he approached her as if he were a king to her queen. When nearing arms length she rose from her throne. Her voice rose in a musical laugh.

"Alleine zu zweit fen, as the locals say. What is the name of this brave handsome Sith before me?"

Revan's eyes roamed over her and the room, confusedly.

"Brave? Handsome? Sith? You judge quickly."

Another lighthearted laugh echoed through the room.

"You are a Sith because you wear that robe, you are brave because you have come here and I'm a quite capable of judging handsomeness."

Revan decided to grab the situation.

"My name is Revan. I am here by the wishes of the Jedi Order to reclaim this compound."

Her eyes smiled in disbelief.

"Revan a Jedi? I must truly be behind on the times. So you are no Sith?"

Revan pulled the hood of his cloak back to reveal sincere eyes. The eyes seemed to offend the woman.

"I wear this as a-"

"An insult to the memory of Duron Qel Dromo? He was twice the Jedi you were, if slightly less handsome. The force sang with his successes where as it blistered and died in your presence. You wearing his robe is sickening irony. Do not waltz into my Enclave to tell me what is what and say you come from the Order."

Her smile reappeared. "You've come to end this place, or perhaps," She grabbed Revan by his shoulders and pulled him against her and whispered into his ear. "To help me rule."

Revan pried the woman away.

"I do not even know who you are!"

She backed off, stunned.

"My name? How does that matter? What does it change?"

"I may know of you."

"No one knew of me until now. I am Linda Tru. I am the Chief Archivist, The Council, and the leader of this Enclave. And as of right now you are my prisoner or slave."

Revan had his fill of this situation. He backed out and drew his saber, igniting it with a flick of his thumb. The crowd that huddled in the corners cried and hid deeper in the archive isles. Revan's voice boomed in a deadly tone.

"What have you done to this Enclave and it's students?"

Linda smiled and sat back down upon the throne and waived dismissively with her hand.

"You will not use that against me, Revan. You are not a Sith or you would've already. You are no Jedi, otherwise you would not have drawn it. You are in my world now."

She motioned with her hands and the hidden throng slowly appeared each drawing a lightsaber of a different color. An odd twenty-five lightsabers were drawn, itching to attack. She produced her own from her robe and ignited it. She inclined it to where it was mere inches from Revan's nose.

"You are mine or you are dead."

Revan began to feel a tinge of fear back up his throat and tighten his jaw. How had such an innocent situation corroded into this? Where was Bastila, and could she have helped him even if she were here?


	3. Chapter 3

-1Chapter 3: Worms Versus Birds

Linda was smiling, again, behind her saber. It was the smile of assured victory. Revan had the situation assessed. It was utterly hopeless. Suppose he could defeat all twenty-six enemies at once, he would've gained nothing. He powered his lightsaber down and his captors powered down theirs. The laughter on Linda's face was infuriating, but Revan kept his composure.

"You will find that being my slave is not too demanding. You might even enjoy it, my Sith Lord."

She arose from the throne and quickly a few men in tattered clothes rushed forth and moved the throne aside to reveal a secret room. They then quickly returned to their alcove. Linda held out her preened and dainty hand.

"Shall we?"

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Revan followed Linda into the room which was done up in red and in the fashion of a personal quarters. It looked like the chambers of a rich Coruscant Lady. The bed was large and disk-shaped with thin red transparent curtains draped about it. Fresh hot food was littering an oblong table on the other end of the room. A great elliptical mirror was on the wall opposite the table, so that whomever was sitting at the end of the table could see themselves whilst they ate. Another symbol of Linda's frightening vanity.

Revan was convinced by the time they had begun to eat at the table, that Linda was quite insane. Long moments would pass as she would simply stare at him while she was eating. There would be a few episodes of unexplained laughter and she consumed large quantities of some sort of local wine. If there had been a window or an alternate exit, Revan would've incapacitated her and fled, but still no solution presented itself.

"Tell me, how did you come to rule?"

She sneered at Revan for breaking silence.

"You will address me as Mistress Tru."

After this, her eyes dared him to pose the same question again. Revan, being the same man he always had been, he dared.

"How did this happen, Mistress Tru?"

She slapped the table.

"So consumed by details! I was appointed!"

"By who's authority?"

Revan could see that Linda was becoming greatly agitated. He knew he wouldn't get any answers, but it was enough to try.

"You said earlier you were the Archivist?"

She smiled, maniacally.

"I am now. It used to be that old fool Corvis. But now he lives alone in the woods reading about glory days."

"But by who's power gave you this position?"

"The power to assume power without consequence grants it's own authority."

An idiom straight from a Sith holocron, Revan thought. He pressed forward, not even acknowledging the food and drink before him.

"You said you were appointed. If so, by whom?"

She gave an exasperated squeal.

"You ask far too many questions for a slave!"

Revan smiled, deciding on a different approach.

"This is my first time as a slave. Indulge me. Was it Aero-Kerre Rokaine?"

Linda's eyebrow shot up, warningly. Her lips pursed. She seemed to recognize the name, but shook her head.

"No. I was appointed by the counsel to act as steward during the rebellion. Aero-Kerre was the cause of the rebellion that drove the Order back which appointed me." She began fidgetting with her utensils and smiled to herself. "Perhaps he was involved, in that sense."

Revan felt the force pulling on him to ask a question. It had happened before without apparent reason. It was as if a little nagging child pulling on his sleeve and whispering in his ear. He took a leap of faith.

"Were you in love with Aero-Kerre?"

Linda's eyes immolated in flames of passion. Peace was gone as was her insane little giggling smile. Her jaw clenched and her flaming eyes were beginning to moisten and water. She turned her away from Revan so that he could not see her eyes. Her voice squeaked in answer.

"We knew each other since we were little. Raised in this Enclave together. I-"

Revan smiled in triumph. She was distraught, meaning he had the advantage. He continued in the vein that the force had opened for him.

"But he didn't love you. Did he?"

Her head snapped back in rage and she pounded the table with her fist.

"He loved me until that wench came along!"

Her fist melted, she grabbed her head and sunk into her chair, sobbing. Revan couldn't help but feel pity for her. She was the saddest most miserable creature he had ever encountered.

"What was this Aero-Kerre like?"

At the mention of his name, she sobbed loudly. Her watery eyes looked up as if she could see him standing on the table.

"He was…so bright…and handsome." Her sobs stopped and she raised her head. Her face looked much older and worn. Her worn eyes looked up at Revan. "He looked like you."

Her eyes were clouded over by odd dementia. Her smile resurfaced as she stared at Revan. He felt the power in his corner. The power to utterly destroy this poor loathsome creature once and for all. A bad taste flooded his mouth as he forced himself to form the words.

"I am already in love with someone else. I could never love you."

Her eyes dropped and the pupils died. Her eyes became cancelled and blank.

"I know. No one ever did love me. Not true love." She blubbered.

Revan's cold voice wafted over her like a chilling freezing wind.

"Of course they didn't. You are unlovable."

She bit her lip and began to mutter to herself.

"I'm leaving, mistress." He said sarcastically.

Revan rose to his feet and kicked his chair back. He pulled his hood back up and strode over to the covered door and pushed the throne aside so he could slip out. Behind him he heard a lightsaber ignite, a moan and then the lightsaber die.

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Revan couldn't ignore the guilt that ate at him. She had been poorly trained in the Jedi arts of shielding against deep feelings. And she had been weakened… This Aero-Kerre had abandoned her after sharing love with her. For a Jedi unacquainted with the snares of love, it killed her. It made him shiver as he thought of his own Bastila. He must leave her soon…

He was well away from the ruined Enclave. He suppose the Order could return here with some work but it would hardly be worth the effort.

Revan reached out in the force. The old man wasn't far. Corvis she had called him. Even from the path he could spy a hut below in the wooded downs. It was a round structure with a hat shaped roof. As Revan closed in on it he could see the door was shut. It looked many years old and in slightly better shape than the Enclave he had just left, slightly.

Revan made his way to the door and knocked. There was no answer. He gave the door a shove, it squealed open and stepped in. As he stood inside the hovel he was tempted to hold his hands over his head in case the roof decided it had seen too many years. The room smelled of smoke and was filled with ancient furniture that looked as if it had been hand constructed from fallen trees. Wookiees sleeping underneath the overgrown roots of a Wroshyr tree most likely got better shelter. A curious thing was that laying everywhere in the hut were tomes that looked like they barely survived some catastrophe. They laid strewn about, tossed on the floor and propped up against objects, lain on shelves and on the seat of most of the chairs. Revan was looking from one end of the strange place to the other when he was startled by a croak. It sounded like Belgarothian Junkman Toad with a Coruscant accent. It also sounded slightly annoyed.

"Are you in yet? I would hope you had the sense to knock off some of that rain water before you stepped in."

In walked an odd man in a large dull brown robe with a huge white cotton head of unmastered hair. He had in his hand a green bound book. When he saw Revan he nodded to himself and gestured at the book.

"Gross stuff, rain, promotes mold."

Far from understanding the current situation Revan cocked his head to the left. He couldn't say that this felt familiar or even approached making sense.

"I don't understand. Have we met?"

The old man shook his head.

"No, not yet. I suppose we should. My name is Rolando Corvis. Not named after the planet, mind. I've lived here alone for twenty years or better." He laid the book down on the arm of his chair. "The question to pose is who are you?"

Shaking out of his stupor, Revan nodded.

"I am Revan, former Lord of the Sith."

The old man croaked a surprised laugh.

"Is that really who you are? Just a former Sith? I was under the impression that Revan was far more than a former anything."

Revan was still unsure of the odd man. He had a manner that seemed so familiar.

"Are you sure we have never met?"

He laughed, which was made as a grinding sawing noise.

"Wouldn't you be able to remember if we had?"

Revan was about to answer when the old man raised his hand. An odd expression of concern formed over his features. "You've been followed here, boy." Revan nodded and was about to explain when the man motioned him to be silent yet again. He walked past Revan and locked the door. His voice replied in a hissing whisper. "I am not speaking of the woman. This one is darker."

Revan reached out into the force and felt outside of the house. He could feel every drop of bombarding rain, the Ebon Hawk far away at the Enclave hangar and something hanging about the loading bay, something trying not to be seen. It was near Bastila. Revan turned for the door, but was stopped by the little man.

"She is not in any danger. He is here to observe."

Revan turned on the old man with a look of annnoyance.

"Who in the force are you?"

"Me?" Rolando shook his round old head. "I'm an old master of the academy archives here." The old man removed several books from his chair and sat. "I was here when the Enclave was overrun by the Sith over forty years ago. I joined them and then they left and I stayed. Sith Lord by the name of Lord Masekre, who was once a student here by the name of Aero-Kerre Rokaine. Long name, huh? Sometimes I wondered if he joined the Sith to shorten his name." The old man laughed in remembrance.

Revan's eyes narrowed. "Joining the Sith is not a joke."

The old man rose forward and laughed, slapping his thigh.

"It was for Aero. He switched sides three times before he left with the Sith. The only Jedi I knew who could do such a thing. The old Masters were absolutely clueless as to why or how. He was the only one recorded in the history of the Galaxy who had done such a thing as to bait and switch the force so many times as he did. He seemed to be able to do it at will and even when he did switch it was always to further his own ends. Heard he died in the Battle of the Secrets at Falleen."

Revan felt the need to question about Aero-Kerre. It was as if the force had led him here and was tugging at his sleeve like an impatient child. So he raised an eyebrow and asked the obvious question.

"What was the Battle of the Secrets?"

The old man waved it off.

"Stupid little conflict. The Sith thought that the Falleen had plans to ransack the Republic from the inside and you know how persuasive the Falleen can be, Hah! I suppose the Sith didn't want the Falleen to muck up the Republic before they took over. Needless to say that the Sith did not take the niceties of diplomacy too seriously. There were accusations and peace talks that lasted hardly a week before the Sith attacked. Aero had just returned the Enclave to Jedi control and renounced the dark side. But when he heard the rumors about the Falleen's intents he reenlisted, died shortly after. Turned out that the Falleen had plans alright. Plans to send an emissary to the senator on Coruscant to negotiate Falleen's support of the Aratech company in the senate because of corporate deals the two had made. As for me, I was too lazy to do all that jumping around that Aero did. So instead of renouncing anything and rejoining anything, I set up shop here with a few Jedi archive reports I rewrote on standard Deralia paper."

As the old man related the whole event to Revan, he saw that Rolando began to stare more and more at him. Revan returned the stare for a moment before asking:

"What do you know about me?"

The old man smacked his lips and looked into Revan's eyes. After a time, an eternity to Revan, he shook his head and swore.

"Are you used to being handed much or is it unusual for you to put two and two together? Aero-Kerre was your father. He fell in love during one of his dark stints and it was probably the worst wound he ever got out of the dark side. That witch was something that even the worst Sith Lord would envy. She had him twisted around her finger in plan inside plans. She valued him because the Dark side seemed to only be able to touch him slightly. Very few knew what she intended but she, herself. I wouldn't be surprised if she had been the architect of the modern Sith."

Revan couldn't help but think that this news should affect him somehow, but he did not know how. He didn't feel sad or any mix of any emotion. He felt as a well of indifference and slight curiosity. But there was one question left to ask.

"Is her name Linda Tru?"

The old man held his laugh back this time making a soft snorting sound.

"No. Linda Tru was a youngling at the time. She was a local orphan found to be force-sensitive. Aero carried her around on his shoulders, both physically and metaphorically. When he came back with that Korriban witch, he had ignored the little girl that he had loved so much. The rest is History. If you want more you should ask Linda yourself. Or have you?"

The guilt began to form again. "Linda is dead." Revan said, swallowing hard.

The old man nodded approvingly.

"Did it yourself, did you? Cold. Very cold. But then she was damaged. Not right in the head, if you know my meaning."

"Actually, she took her own life."

The old man shrugged.

"She's one with the force and no longer in pain."

"So if she's not my mother, then is my mother still alive?"

The old man stared into nothingness for a moment, as if watching a bonfire or reading a book. Finally he shrugged again.

"I admit, I don't know. If she was, she would be on Korriban near that depression on the southeastern hemisphere."

Revan moved to the door when he found his arm snagged by the old man.

"Don't land on the depression. It's covered in Fech-Fech. Beneath that fine grain sand is nothing but a spider-web of caves looking for something to cause a sinkhole." Revan nodded but Corvis still held him. He gave him a hard stare. "And if you find Lady Yelena there on that pit of a world, it would be my advise to not listen to a thing she has to say, even if it's true." The old man's eyes dropped and he shook his head. "She has said enough already."

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Lady Yelena. A name Revan had never heard neither from the Jedi nor from the Sith. Traditionally the less you heard of a Sith Lord or Lady the more powerful and dangerous the Lord or Lady, the darker the heart and the more devious the soul.

Revan walked up to the landing pad to see another ship had landed. Outside of it was a crowd of Mandalorians, roaring in laughter and singing their bloodthirsty shanties as they unloaded crate after crate of weapons and materials. Skulking behind their numbers was a dark-caped man with a bald head.

"What's this then?" Cried one of them as they saw Revan walking out of the trees. The singing stopped and attention turned on Revan. As if in introduction Revan drew his lightsaber and ignited it. The Mandalorians saw the lightsaber and returned to unloading the equipment. Revan couldn't help but sense disappointment from them as he secured his saber. He knew they had hoped he was just a dumb native who had stumbled across their small army.

Revan made for the Ebon Hawk when he heard another saber ignite and a raging growl. He spun and dodged a blow from Linda Tru.

Linda gave him no time to draw his lightsaber. An endless barrage of blows followed that Revan ducked and darted away from. The Mandalorian began to gather and cheer. Whom they were cheering for was unknown.

Revan finally tucked and rolled, freeing his saber and igniting it.

Like a compassionate Jedi, he assumed Soresu more for concern of his opponent. He would flip away from her hateful blows or simply deflect them aside. He found he could not strike her down. He was up for killing her by proxy, as he had thought he had done, but when it came to ending her life with a saber stroke he found he could not. She fell in love with him because he looked like his father. The fury she was in was his fault.

She leaped into the air and tumbled into a front flip, making her a saber buzz saw . Revan pushed with the force and propelled himself out of her reach. He knew Linda wouldn't let him escape. There would only be one thing that would end this fight.

She landed in a frontward offensive stance, overbalancing herself and raising her center of gravity. It was sloppy. Revan rushed in low with an obvious feint. When she went to parry, he simply double backed and attacked high with a lateral Vlipmi maneuver, cutting and cauterizing the carotids. She made a strained face and fell backwards to struggle for a moment. It lasted a few seconds longer before she fainted and eventually died.

Revan felt his heart petrify. He shouldn't let himself feel sorry for her, but he did. She had begun her life as a creation of innocence, love and compassion. He felt a terrifying connection to this poor confused Jedi. He could feel his heart curl with guilt. They both had been hit by something that the sheltered Jedi Masters, in their misguided wisdom, had taught them to run and hide from. When that unexpected love found them… But she was mad and now at peace. It was as Rolando had said.

The Mandalorians were excitedly chattering and some were paying out bets they had made on the fight. Revan was on his way to the loading ramp for the Ebon Hawk when the caped man approached him. Revan was startled because he had forgotten the man was even present. It was disturbing, if unbecoming, not to notice or to forget something so obviously out of place. The man had a long thin twisted mustache that curled up at the ends and was accompanied by a goatee. He had a friendly grin on his face.

"Excuse me, sir." He cried, as he saw Revan walking towards the Ebon Hawk. "Would you, per chance, be the captain of this fine vessel?"

His voice had a silky refined and friendly sound to it, but with a flavor of amusing cynicism. He wore a folded and buttoned tunic with various sized pockets and a black cape covering his back. He carried a pack in his right hand and a cane in his left. Revan saw the possible dangers of warming up to him, though he certainly felt tempted. The man had an oppressive aura of likeableness.

"I am. My name is…Laigra, I'm an ex-Jedi; I run trade routes in my freighter."

The man continued as if he had not noticed the hesitation in Revan's voice as he was choosing his alias.

"My name Darswa. I am a traveling tailor, cook and ambassador from Druckenwell representing a firm that has a great interest in the untapped potential in the world of Deralia. I have spoken with the global regent here and have obtained permission, for the firm I represent, to begin a small plant here to harvest much needed resources."

Revan began to feel coiled and slightly annoyed.

"How can I help?" He asked, returning the man's unfading smile.

Darswa finally stopped smiling long enough to swallow and then resumed. The gesture came off as slightly nervous.

"Well, I am afraid I am slightly stranded for the moment. I appealed to these formidable Mandalorians and they made it clear that they had no intention of helping and that a Mandalorian brigade would be through here shortly. The remnants of the war, they said. They claimed that any vessel caught leaving would be fired upon and-" Eager to stop the dialog, Revan nodded.

"We will be flying near Druckenwell. It will be no problem to drop you off there, but we have stops to make first if that's alright?"

The Darswa's smile intensified and his eyes widened to resemble, what Revan would call, borderline psychopathic. Darswa reached a hand inside one of his tunic pockets.

"Perfect, thank you. How much would be appropriate?"

Revan shook his head.

"No need. As I said, we will be passing it anyway."

After Darswa thanked him again, the two boarded to find Bastila in the astrogation room. She turned to newcomer with an expecting look. Before she could start in and say something rash Revan jumped in.

"Bastila, this is Darswa an ambassador from Druckenwell." The man nodded, still smiling. Revan turned to Darswa and indicated Bastila. "Darswa, this is Bastila Shan, my traveling companion."

Catching his que, he smiled broadly and took Bastila's hand kissing it lightly on a knuckle.

"And what an absolutely charming companion too."

Bastila smiled, slightly confused.

"A-an ambassador?"

He nodded in agreement but held up his finger.

"A marooned ambassador, I'm afraid. My party left me here."

Revan nodded. "We're giving him a lift back to Druckenwell, as it is near Falleen."

Bastila mouthed the word Falleen to Revan, asking twenty questions at once. Remembering the third party present, Bastila regained composure.

"I-I see. Well, it is a pleasure to have you on board, ambassador. Could I have a moment with you, captain."

Revan almost collapsed in relief. He knew the chance that she would say his name in front of a complete stranger was remote, but even that slight possibility had frightened him. He nodded

"Yes, of course. Darswa, you will find accommodations down that corridor and to the left." Revan followed into the cockpit with a sinking feeling of dread. When they made it to the cockpit, Bastila shut the door behind her.

"What is going on? I am stuck here all by myself and then you pop out of nowhere with a stranded ambassador on your way to Falleen, which, by the way, is not going to happen." Revan's face contorted to show annoyance.

"And why not Falleen?"

Bastila rolled her eyes.

"Why not Falleen? Because I don't like the idea of you getting side tracked by a pretty Falleen and totally confuse the mission, whatever your mission is. And I'm not fond of the Falleen. They're so…stuck up."

Revan blinked.

"You…you're jealous!" He chuckled. "You think I'm going to fall for a Falleen and your jealous!" Revan's chuckle turned into a rolling laugh that infuriated Bastila.

"You arrogant self-absorbed child… Besides why shouldn't I be jealous? If a wayward ambassador can pick you up why not a falleen? And what reason would we have to go to Falleen?"


	4. Chapter 4

-1Chapter 4: Our Lips are Sealed

Closing the door to the cockpit Revan related all that Bastila had missed. The madness of Linda Tru, of Aero-Kerre and his crusades in the Battle of the Secrets and finally of old Rolando. Bastila listened but in her eyes it could be seen that she didn't quite believe. She shook her head when Revan had told her everything.

"I would have known. Our link-"

"Is fading." Revan finished. Bastila bit her lip and clenched her hands. "I've noticed how the effects have dissipated. I have a theory as to why, but I'm not ready to disclose it. I need more information. I need to go to Falleen."

Shoving the hurt aside, Bastila spoke up.

"But what about our guest?"

Revan's eyes lowered in contemplation.

"He is important or dangerous. Yet." He looked up and shrugged helplessly. "I am unsure of his purpose here, I confess. But the force arranged this encounter for some reason. It is all part of becoming a master Jedi or a Dark Lord, is either letting the force direct you or learning it's tricks. We will proceed to Falleen and I will practice restraint against beautiful Falleen females."

The two of them chuckled nervously while Bastila punched in the coordinated into the Navicomputer and the Ebon Hawk kicked as it accelerated into hyperspace. Revan left Bastila to man the Hawk and strolled into the astrogation chamber to find the droids, but not the ambassador. HK quickly approached Revan and his vocabulator hummed to life.

"Objection: I would like to voice my opinion considering our recent guest. He is not to be trusted. Since he has been here he has tried several times to break into the Ebon Hawk's flight records until I had the trash compactor encrypt it. I would advise you to have him eliminated immediately. A task I am willing to undertake."

Revan smiled reassuringly.

"His actions are known to me even if his intentions are not. I am curious to see why he is interested in this vessel. If he were to be killed this would never become clear. So I ask you to postpone your execution."

"Hesitant concurrence: As you wish, Master."

"But I would also like you to observe him, discreetly."

The droid wordlessly nodded and hobbled off. Revan returned to the west dormitory and was relieved to find that Darswa was not there. With a wave of his hand the door slid shut.

Setting down on the bed, Revan found his thoughts returning back to Korriban. The thought that his mother might still live for some reason made him smile. She had been from what he had retrieved a harsh and evil woman, but she could bring to an end so many questions. His thoughts meshed and mingled for the next hour over various expectations. He would've chosen to go directly to Korriban, but he had only just left and felt the need to put it off.

Revan reached beneath the bed and retrieved a Moghra Emerald. It glittered in his palm. He seemed to realize what it truly was. It was a weakness. It was a pure hypnotic euphoric beautiful wonderful weakness. It was obvious to him that he could not carry one with him everywhere he would go. He rubbed it on the underside of the bed, slicing the tender skin open. As he brought it to his lips and tasted it, he realized what an understandable weakness it was. Anyone would be addicted to it, given the opportunity. But every addiction is just another weakness…just another forbidden fruit.

Revan composed himself and began an old Jedi relaxation tactic, a meditation of sorts. He arranged his arms legs hands and feet in front of him and leaned back in supine position. He slowly lowered his limbs to the bed while repeating an arbitrary resonant phrase.

The force was torn and chaotic around the ship, as if something was muffling it's direction and order. He felt himself swim along it's rampant lines of power and thought. He felt something covering his face and he felt his tunic robe disappear only to be replaced by thick heavy cloaks. He felt two lightsabers, one in each hand. He heard their hum and saw the red glow they cast across the eyes of his mask. A voice interrupted these realizations.

"You betrayed her! You left her to die!"

Revan's eyes snapped to focus to see a man with a vibroblade in his hands. His face was clean and regal, yet glistening with sweat. His eyes were bleary with choked back tears. Revan couldn't think of the name…the name. He knew the man… Yusanis. His name was Yusanis. The man looked down in despair, his voice calling out in sadness.

"How could you be so cold? She was all I had."

It didn't take long for the pitiful creature to evolve from sadness to rage. He lunged forward to inflict a high blow. Revan wanted to reach out and stop the man and apologize or explain to him, but nothing he had to say would matter and he couldn't control even his own motions. Revan brought his left hand up in Djem So parry of 4: the Saluting parry. Yusanis changed his lunge to a feint and dipped below the parry to find the other lightsaber waiting for him. The lightsaber tapped forward and knocked Yusanis on his back. He quickly rolled to the side to miss Revan's next blow.

Yusanis re-chambered his feet beneath him and used them to spring himself at Revan. The result was a quick exchange of blows that was ended by Yusanis soaring backward, grinding across the concrete floor of the Coruscant Senate foyer and crashing into a display of treaties.

Yusanis recovered quick enough to dodge a spinning saber and catch it by the handle. Having caught it, he charged. Revan drew a long side cut, which Yusanis controlled and brought it aside with the Vibroblade while stabbing with Revan's saber. The saber quickly slipped from Yusanis' grip into Revan's, while he disengaged his saber and took control of Yusanis' blade from him and disarmed him in a lightening fast bind. Revan quickly punched Yusanis to the ground and gave him two superficial wounds on the side of his head.

A voice boomed and vibrated from the mask. The voice carried cold death.

"You've lost, Senator." Revan lowered his right saber so that red reflected in the Senator's eyes and on his face. "It was inevitable. The strong take the place of the weak. That is how the galaxy survives. But I want you to realize what has made you weak! You were once as great as I. Fear crippled you; fear of loss. Fear makes weakness. Weakness brings death."

A fatal blow was struck and a groan issued before Revan's vision faded back to the dormitory of the Ebon Hawk.

"We've arrived at Falleen." Came Bastila's voice over the ship intercom.

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Revan walked down the loading ramp with his old cloak trailing him. He felt an empowering authority, as if the Falleen should respect him. However, from what he knew of the Falleen, they were not likely to recognize this.

The planet of Falleen was a world that felt edgy. No trees could be seen to speak of, and everywhere you look you saw stone. Stone monuments and statues, long roads and in front of the landing pad was a massive set of stone steps that seemed to go up for miles. The buildings were positively monolithic and gray. Between the gray city and the overcast skies, the only color to be spotted were the red furling banners and pennants with the various feudal classes and families.

Marching down the stairs were Falleen musicians fitted in their bleak tunics which corresponded to their vacant faces of perfect symmetry and indifference. Revan heard the band playing their clandestine dirge-like Buryata. The Buryata was probably one of the things that kept so many people from Falleen. It was a humbling, sneaking and doomful genre of music that is normally played polyphonic in ¾ time with a choir and the sultry stringed kurai with a prevalent dry beat of a bass drum. It is traditionally played while the musicians were marching to their odd whirling music. As a comforting welcome, the music was ineffective. Already it was melting the superiority and authority Revan had mustered. It reminded him how little the Falleen were to be trifled with, or could be trusted.

Descending the ocean of steps was a small figure that was bedecked in tight fitting red robes. He seemed to float down the stairs at what was not exactly a slow pace. Revan could see the figure was making his way to the Ebon Hawk. In his mind he cursed to himself. It appeared they did not intend to even let them speak.

The reptilian creature was now within hailing distance. Revan took the initiative and closed the gap with powerful demanding strides. The Falleen's features were sleek and his motions from his posture to the way he blinked his eyes was lithe and graceful, like some sort of poet of motion. His voice called out in a soft odd lilting intonations that belied arrogance sustained by patience.

"You are asked to introduce yourself, outworlder, and then leave."

Revan matched the man's contempt with some of his own.

"I am Lord Revan and have come to investigate into the conflict known as the Battle of Secrets."

The Falleen looked at him with some surprise and as the music of the Buryata faded, the Falleen brought his hand to his ear as if listening for some distant sound. He nodded once to himself and then motioned to Revan.

"You will forgive the rather cold welcome, Lord Revan."

Revan joined him in ascending the steps. The red-robed Falleen ascended the steps as if he could levitate. He did it with so much ease that he could turn his head to focus on Revan, who was nonchalantly looking ahead.

"It is quite interesting, your visit." He confessed. "You said the Battle of Secrets? But that is not a very welcome topic here, and, as I recall, was not regarded by the Republic as very interesting." He said the last sentence with bitterness. "Why do you wish to know about it?"

Revan softly chuckled to himself and replied quietly.

"Oh, but it is of great interest to me. The dealings of the Sith are always my interest."

"Ah, of course. I take it that you had nothing to do with it? But then, I forget, it would've been before your time."

The very last set of steps were conquered and the great door to the Grabeen port authority building was before them. The Falleen turned and bowed very curtly before he indicated the door.

"An audience has been requested of you by Heshorce and Resay, the Feudal lord and his Mistress et Grabeen."

Revan nodded.

"I shall be delighted to accommodate them."

"You will find them in the palace rotunda beyond this building."

Revan walked to the door, threw it open and entered. The disturbed and curious faces of a crowd of Falleen within the building were focused upon Revan. He ignored them and made his way past them all.

He came to another door which he flung open to reveal a courtyard before a great stoic marble building. It seemed the very soul of the conflicted genre of subtle minimalism. It was not modest in it's minimalism, nor was it profound in it's subtlety, but it was a confusing hybrid that could not decide if it was no-nonsense or mystical and shrewd. There were dignitaries that were wandering about the courtyard doing their best to make it plain that they neither worked nor cared. To look upon them you would think they were serenely lost morons that carried with them neither thought nor care. Somewhere in Revan's mind, he found them reminiscent of many Jedi he knew.

After he made his way beyond the courtyard into the palace, he was dazzled at the sight of more conflicted architecture. The furnishings inside were arranged to delight both the slothful hedonists and the dominating overlords of the city. Both extremes were disgusting unto themselves, but when combined they made Revan truly loathe the Falleen.

The rotunda was not hard to spot. It was a great domed circular chamber with a procession of great chairs arranged in precedence and a host of surrounding statues. The statues seemed to be important past leaders and figures. Two chairs trumped the lineup of chairs. They were themselves more akin to thrones and what's more, they were occupied.

Two regal figures were reposed in each chair. They were adorned in all manner of exaggerated pomp that was almost obscene and certainly unnecessary. Each figure was slim, sleek and beautiful to behold, and yet were painful to look at because of the unwashed arrogance in their expressions. On the right was Heshorce and to his left his honored Mistress. The both of them regarded him sluggishly, as if they were sedated and it took time for his presence to register.

"I am told," Heshorce spoke. "You are here in regards to the Battle of Secrets, Lord Revan. But unless you are on a mission of Sith apology, as I highly doubt, you are an ill guest."

Revan sat, with disregard to precedence, in one of the chairs facing Heshorce. He shrugged.

"I cannot apologize for an affair to which I was not party to, but if I came here for anything at all, it was for clarity."

Heshorce's right eyebrow raised.

"Clarity?" He shook his head. "There was no clarity. The Sith descended upon us without a discernable reason. One would think that if any clarity existed on the subject you would have it, not I." Heshorce reached for glass on the table at his right elbow and brought to his lips for a drink. After the drink, he continued. "Since you are already here, there are great many things I am curious about. I will submit to your questions if you will submit to mine."

Revan didn't like it. It sounded dangerous. He fully expected a trick question that would lead him into a trap.

"What do you wish to know?" He asked. Heshorce smiled as if the question should already be obvious.

"Where did you get the mask you once wore?"

Revan pause, dumbfounded. His head dropped in thought.

"You mean…my mask…?" Heshorce clucked his tongue.

"I cannot hear you, Lord Revan, you are mumbling. Where did you get the mask? It is not a difficult question."

Revan raised his head.

"I don't know."

Heshorce sighed, as if dissatisfied and bored all in one stroke.

"How evasive." He muttered. Not wanting air in the conversation Revan fired another question.

"Do you know a man named Aero-Kerre Rokaine?"

"I know no one of that name. How do you expect me to answer one of your questions when you will not answer mine?" Replied Heshorce, irritated.

"Fine then, Dark Lord Masekre?"

Heshorces eyes widened in what might have been anger and surprise. His eyelids, then, quickly lowered to mask these emotions.

"I find it very hard to believe, Lord Revan, that your intentions here are benign and are out of pure curiosity. Unless you are willing to make this discussion more even-footed you are dismissed and are to leave Falleen space." Heshorce waved him away with his hand. "I give you lodgings and a day to think it over. Until then…" Heshorce paused and then looked over to his mistress. "Resay will entertain you." Resay regarded Heshorce with a look of disbelief and disgust. Revan saw this coming and decided to put it in short order.

"I am fine alone." Revan said, curtly. Heshorce looked down at Revan like a king surveying a disobedient servant.

"I will accept no refusal."

Resay slipped out of her obviously comfortable throne and glided forward to take Revan by the arm. She lead him away from the rotunda to a room several hallways away. It's far wall was one large glass sliding door that revealed a view of an extension of the courtyard.

On the floor were two large thickly padded mats encircled with small silky pillows. In between the two mats was an ankle high table with various bottles, cups and strange foods. Resay went to one mat and sat with her legs tucked underneath her. She gestured lazily to the other mat.

Revan sat in the same manner as Resay had sat. He rested his hand at his sides and sighed. He looked up to see Resay's nonplussed face.

"Do you often have to do whatever your lord demands of you?" Revan asked innocently.

Resay looked up, startled by the question, but not offended. Her voice replied very liquid and sweet and yet not overly feminine. It had an intentionally sultry quality.

"It is well that the I have a lord to make demands of me. If not then I would not know what to do with my time." She cut her heavy eyes up at Revan, while smiling. "How else could I live?"

Revan chuckled softly. He could not help remarking how beautiful in symmetry and form was her face. It had no flaws, wrinkles or any lack of perfection. It was like a face that had been perfectly designed down to every green spec of flesh. He averted his eyes across the room. Bastila Shan would not trust him to meditate if he failed this test now.

"I lived that life, for a time. I did not find it so acceptable. I now live for myself and yet also for everyone else by proxy."

Resay leaned forward and began to fidget, pour and fill cups with different beverages. Her voice called out in a slow sensual counter argument.

"And yet I don't know if I could stand not having my palace and it's comforts, having only life to live for. It would be so prolonged and tedious."

It was at this that Revan found power to break the false attraction the hag was forming. He found so much irony in Resay's last statement he truly laughed. At this Resay looked disappointed and tired.

"Sometimes it is boring, but rarely. More often it is frenetic and hazardous. No offense, but it is your life that seems stagnant."

Resay slid the two glasses across the table, not sparing a grimace as she looked him in the eye. Her skin had become a darker more grim hunter green. The glasses she passed were made of a light flaky chalk-like porcelain. One of the glasses contained a thick black substance that smelled heady and rich of a dark potent syrup. The other contained a milky thin liquid that gave no smell at all

"The Pélievê," She indicated the milky liquid. "must be drank, while the Hussäe must be added a drop before each sip." Revan raised the Hussäe to add it when her hand rose up like a Phargmoghra viper before it strikes. "Do not add more than that one drop before drinking." She added sulkily.

Revan tilted the Hussäe and watched a single droplet of ooze cascade down into the other liquid. The reaction was a subdued change of color from a milky white to a creamy brown. The mistress hinted that it could now be consumed.

Warily, Revan raised the glass to his lips and let the liquid touch his tongue before sipping. It had a shocking dark taste that was slightly tart, but also deep and cool.

"Souvei."

She said, raising her own glass. Feeling his nerves rest at ease, he repeated her well-wishing. He felt a Falleen breeze sweep through the window aside to his right, while the sun dimmed a little through the glass roof. He watched as mistress Resay shuddered with a minor chill.

Revan himself felt the chill intensify as it began to run a course up and down his spine. He felt something sink and then he felt everything relax. It occurred to him at this moment that he had been poisoned. Even if the tainted beverage had not lent him a calmness he would have been so anyway. It seemed weak to think it now, but he had expected as much, and invited it with a tinge of curiosity. Why did they wish to incapacitate him so peaceably? What did they intend? The simplest answer was that they wished to know something they thought they could extract with extra methods.

He had to admit that, he felt a peace that even his Jedi ways could barely reach. Knowing that the dosage in the last sip was not enough to overcome a Jedi or a Sith, much less his powerful hybrid of the two, he doctored the Pélievê with another drop of the black goo and sipped once more. He noticed Resay's downplayed surprise to which he could only smile and tip his glass before he fell face to the floor, shattering the various glasses under him.


	5. Chapter 5

-1Chapter 5: See or Shut Your Eyes

Formless gray blobs swirled and dark spots ate at his vision. It was not that he could not see, it was as if there was nothing to see. No sounds broke through that darkness. Revan could not feel. He felt nothing. Was he locked in the sense deprivation chamber on Dantooine?

Then a distant sound was heard. The unlikely sound of breaking waves. Waves being split up by sharp jagged rocks only to glide onto, and back off of, a sandy beach. He smelt the brackish foam associated with oceans, he heard the call of alien birds far above.

A crackling electronic voice sounded, and it sounded as though it was experiencing interference.

"Lord Revan?"

Revan heard himself groan in response to Heshorce. In attempting to open his eyes, he found that he still could not see. He could only make out bright blurs.

"Are you conscious?"

Another groan.

"You must understand that I much prefer to deal with former Sith Lords by proxy. Especially such a…renown one as yourself."

The brightness was dimming as his drugged eyes adjusted. He could see a droid off to the left floating and casting an image of Heshorce in front of him. The background was all blue and brown, yet he perceived cliffs and water.

"You may feel inclined to seek me out in retaliation for this, but I assure you it will be truly difficult and that will far outweigh it's satisfaction."

"Tell me what you have done." Revan said, using his hands as a visor.

"You are on Cureal, a planet in the Falleen system. A very unpleasant place and far away from me."

The detail of his surroundings began to sharply focus. It looked as if he were on the edge of the moon, on the last scrap of land. Downplaying his frustration, Revan concentrated on avenues of diplomacy.

"Why am I here?"

"You were sent here because I was unsatisfied by your behavior. You betrayed hospitality with rude questioning and not even reciprocating. This is how we choose to deal with this form of behavior."

"And how can I compensate for my behavior?"

The image smiled.

"I am glad you asked. I only need two things from you. One is for you to admit where you got the mask you wore and two, to return it."

Options flooded Revan's brain. Some were violent and satisfying, some were calm and more logical, others were sly and clever while still others were straightforward and unimaginative. Revan liked to think he had pretty well pieced together what Heshorce was hinting at.

"I apologize both for my behavior and for the news I must tell you. The mask you speak of is long destroyed. I am quite aware of where I received it and I apologize."

The imaged flickered, impatiently.

"Well? How did you receive it?"

The truth was that Revan hadn't the slightest idea how he came to have it, but he knew where it had come from and how it was connected to him.

"My father claimed it many years ago when he was here under the name of Lord Masekre during the Battle of the Secrets."

"Ah. Truth at last. From my predecessor no doubt." The image paused for a moment in thought. "The beach you are on is surrounded by high energy fields. The fields are produced by a generator hidden in one of the caves on the cliff face to you left. Deactivate them and you will find your ship and your shipmates upon the mesa above."

"You won't deactivate them?"

Heshorce smiled cruelly.

"Perhaps I would've, if you had returned the mask. Oh, and by the way, your navichart has been wiped of the planet Falleen. You will not be able to navigate directly back to our planet and even if you did, you would not be welcome. I suggest you forget Falleen. Goodbye."

The image died and the droid floated off, beeping cheerfully. It's beeping soon fading off with the musical caws of the native birds.

Revan felt it noteworthy that he had been stripped of his lightsaber. It also felt very ominous. Heshorce didn't expect him to survive. Why? What did he mean by 'unpleasant?'

The far cliff was riddled with tiny cave entrances barely large enough to permit a human. Revan thought something was odd about them, though. It seemed to him that they couldn't have been carved by the licking waves. They were inconsistent with the pattern for water drilled caves.

Revan began to stiffly walk towards the caves. His back felt out of line and ached. His head was throbbing and his muscles were suffering from spasms and were tired. It occurred to him that he could've easily propped himself against a rock and slept. But it also occurred to him that Bastila would instinctively leave the ship and search for him, which might not be safe.

As Revan drew near the caves he could see that the caves had been bore and not carved by water. Something had ground the rock away. These were not caves, they were tunnels.

Leaning into one of the tunnels, Revan listened only to hear a distant rumbling sound. Even through the force, he could feel something pushing it's way through the maze of interconnected tunnels. Something very large.

Revan grabbed the sides of the tunnel and pulled himself in. It was large enough to crawl through, but not large enough to sit up in. It also made the air hot, humid and scarce. There was a sticky sour smell to the tunnels that made Revan's eyes tear up.

Revan had made about twenty feet of progress when he felt his right boot snag tight on something. He reach to pull it free when a shuddering roar upset his concentration. It would've been impossible to see the thing had it not been for the frequent holes facing the ocean that allowed for a certain amount of light. Looking up Revan caught sight of what he could describe as a large yellow worm. It had several hair-like projections and a maw that was compacted with pincers, jaws, horns and razor sharp teeth. It passed him in the tunnel in front of him. He could hear it roaring and circling about. He quickly pried his boot free and crawled to a tunnel adjacent. In doing so he experienced the same thing. His boot hung behind him; this time it was his left.

He noticed that many of the stones were aligned against the right side of his tunnel and one of them had stuck to the metal buckle on his boot. His mind lit. Lodestones. A generator large enough to create an energy field to seal off a beach head would produce a magnetic field over six-hundred megajoules per cubic meter. Normally it would be contained by a suspensor field, but Revan suspected that the device was damaged. If the suspensor became too damaged it would pull the entire cliff face apart.

'_The generator should be just barely working anyway with all of the magnetic interference._' Revan thought.

Seeing that the lodestones clung to the eastern tunnel wall, Revan turned right to see a gigantic creature charging toward him. He pulled himself to a tunnel out of it's way, letting it rumble past, roaring horribly.

Continuing he met several tunnels that merely looped around and some that reopened back onto the beach. The creature had frustratingly blocked his every turn causing him to be so turned around he couldn't remember which way was east.

Finally upon choosing a tunnel to his left, he found a much large opening…a nest.

Inside the super large cave were up to seven of the worm creatures. Not even waiting for a good reason, Revan blasted out charges of lightening, which unfortunately targeted the generator, which was sitting high upon a cave shelf. Swearing under his breath as the cave around him began to rumble. He leaped with Jedi-like ease to the shelf and disconnected the generator. As it powered down, he found that some of the larger and braver worms were below him waiting for him to fall.

Waving his hand, he pried boulders from the wall of the cave and sent them rolling towards the worms. The worms were crushed as the stones rolled over them. The cave began to shake uncontrollably. It was coming down.

Ignoring the surviving worms and the crashing rocks, Revan wrapped himself into the force. He foresaw it. The cliff face would cave-in. The worms had burrowed to much, the generator's field shook it too hard and Revan had pulled supporting boulders away.

He felt the impact as great landslides of stone rained down on either side of him. The force holding the torrent off and redirecting it. The sound was deafening. The dust that rose as a result was blinding. Staggering back and forth pushing the rockslide away through the force, Revan could only be sure that he had not been struck.

When clamor had ceased and the dust settled. Revan felt sunlight again. Happy that there was air to breath, his lungs inhaled more than their share. He could spare a few minutes to rest. Even the greatest Jedi or the wickedest Sith would need a breather after that. After all, touch-and-go was never his style.

Looking up, Revan could've laughed himself senseless. The collapse had provided a perfect ramp leading to the mesa above. Rather than laugh, Revan fell down to rest.

Bastila Shan felt her hand run across her forehead. Her eyesight was too vague to perceive the figure beside her. To recognize that it was Darswa, who was looking at her with concern.

"Miss Shan, are you awake?"

Bastila heard her voice call out and in spite of her dazed head and blurred vision, felt herself sit up.

"I am…yes. I am fine." After rubbing at her eyes, she remembered she was not alone. "Are you alright, ambassador?"

Darswa cleared his throat and sat down on the bed opposite Bastila.

"Indeed, I am fine. They seem to have overlooked me. Are you sure your alright? Can I get you something to drink?"

Bastila nodded her head, continuing to rub her eyes.

"Water, please."

Darswa quickly fetched a glass of water from a sink faculty behind one of the dormitory panels. Upon receiving the water, Bastila dipped her fingers in it and began to rub the cool liquid on her recovering eyes.

"What happened?"

Darswa shrugged.

"From what I could gather from inside the storage compartment, your friend, Laigra, had some trouble negotiating with the native dignitaries. Would that he had brought me with him. I don't even know where it is that we are…"

Bastila stood up, shocked.

"What?"

"They boarded this ship and piloted it forcefully to some distant location. We could be on the other side of the planet, or on a totally different one altogether."

Moving with the particular speed of anxiety, she stumbled to the cockpit. Her helpless eyes overlooking a small cable, she tripped and began to crawl. Once she reached the cockpit chair she hoisted herself into it. The surrounding scenery focusing, she saw a great ocean that the Hawk was surveying from atop a cliff.

She sighed. It was true. Needing to orient herself, she sunk into the force. She felt various lifeforms, both large and small, creeping and soaring around her. She felt the lifeblood of the planet and how horribly different it was from Falleen. She began to search for Revan when an abrupt noise cracked her focus.

Revan was in front of the ship. He looked sapped. There was a five to eight second period she savored her relief before the loading ramp was lowered…

Wordlessly, Revan boarded the ship. Bastila rushed him and closed her arms around him. He was too tired to return any affection. When she released him he staggered into the astrogation chamber to sit. Bastila followed, worriedly.

"This is the last time I let you go out alone. For love of the force, what happened?"

Revan cradled his face in his hands and sighed. It was impossible to have seen him and not perceive a deep lachrymal depression lingering around him.

"This particular trip was not very fruitful." He answered.

Bastila sat next to him and seemed to have an "It serves you right" smile.

"You have not once consulted me. Not once have you told me what you have found or even what you were searching for. You have refused to let me come with you. and you have been acting oddly distant from me. Tell me!"

Revan raised his bloodshot eyes up from his hands, peering up at Bastila.

"I think…"

It was at this time that Revan's improving senses told him someone was listening, out of sight, possibly hidden behind a door or with a stealth generator.

"…that this is not the time. We have to make for…Korriban again."

Bastila rose, frustrated. Her eyes flared. Revan's was surprised that smoke could not be seen curling out of her ears.

"No! This is the time! I've had enough of…"

Revan gave her a subtle tap through the force, enough of a tacit to make a point but not to explain it. Bastila stopped with an odd expression and nodded to herself. She ended her pause with a deadly glare.

"…Fine!" She seethed and stormed off towards the cockpit.

Revan's eyes lowered in fatigue and he slumped even deeper in the chair. He saw Darswa furtively walk out from the cockpit's corridor. Revan gave a tired snicker which he covered with a cough. Darswa was not the master of subtlety yet.

"Are we safe?" Darswa asked nervously.

The Hawk's engine powered on with a roar. The liftoff was abrupt and primitive, causing Darswa to grab a nearby console to stay standing. Revan only hoped the liftoff didn't reflect Bastila's current mood.

"I think we are." Revan shouted over the obvious engine strain.

Darswa straightened his jacket, regaining his composure, and nodded.

"Good."

It was obvious to him now that Darswa was an indispensable part of his journey. He knew now that he had a terrible purpose that was of utmost importance. What puzzled him now, was how was it that Darswa came into being. Who shoved him into Revan's hands? It wasn't merely Darswa's whim or an ambassador mission. There was a devious manipulation in the works. '_A third party? But dejarik is only meant for two._' He thought.

Revan stayed mostly in the chair, watching Darswa's nervous and shifty movements. Each glass of water he drank or every crumb he nibbled. Revan watched how Darswa prowled restlessly from room to room. He noticed how Darswa had not complained about being en route to Korriban instead of Druckenwell. However, after realizing he couldn't observe every single twitch Darswa made, he retired to his dormitory.

Upon entering it he almost missed that his lightsaber was laid neatly on one of the beds. Normally relief would have flooded his mind, but it was far too tired to be flooded. And though, the knowledge that he wouldn't have to walk the surface of Korriban without a lightsaber was comforting it didn't overpower him with joy either.

Perhaps fatigue was a side affect of the drug he had been slipped, but he felt as though he was barely attached to his body with only aching exhaustion. He felt himself fall down upon the spongy softness of one of the beds. His eyes, closed. His mind slowly numbed. He was on the edge of sleep when the dormitory door slammed shut.

"We need to speak." Came Bastila's curt dangerous voice.

Revan nearly cried, but instead replied in a slurred tone.

"What is it, Bastila?"

"What is happening. I need a little information."

It occurred to Revan that if he exerted himself fully that he could collapse her into unconsciousness through the force. But he was not up to exerting himself. He reluctantly propped himself up against the back of the bed.

"My father once led a crusade against the Falleen. I was merely curious to see what he hoped to accomplish. I must admit that I am confused and do not understand. However, I did discover that Falleen tend to hold grudges."

Bastila did not show signs that she understood.

"But how did they know you were related to your father? You didn't tell them, surely."

Revan shook his head with an odd tired smile.

"No they attacked me because I was Sith as was my father before me."

The news seemed to have an affect on Bastila, but she hadn't decided what it would be. Surprise? Revelation?

"I am finished tracking down that lane of my history. My mother is on Korriban."

This time Bastila was decisive. Panic smacked her and she wrestled it with Jedi prowess.

"But-" She paused awkwardly. "I mean to say that…" Realizing that she hadn't meant to say anything, she was silent.

Revan understood. Both of his parent were Sith at one time or another. One of them was still alive. He was seeking her and she might prove to have a strong influence on him and lead him astray.

Bastila made for the door slowly when Revan called out.

"I can't save the galaxy."

Bastila's heart sunk and she closed her eyes tightly. She whirled about.

"But you are… When I was a padwan I studied old prophesies and…"

Revan hissed a laugh.

"What you see swirling about me is not destiny. It's the results of wisdom and foresight, but the very fact that I am relying on it is proof. I'm no Sith deity or Jedi hero."

He pushed himself up from the bed. His face severe and sad.

"All I've done could be undone in less than a decade. Maybe all I've done is prolong suffering."

She shook her head.

"This is insane!" She yelled. "You fly around on a rickety old ship and talk about saving galaxies. You don't say from what. You talk of suffering and failure as if you were going through some terrible trial. But Masters behold, there is nothing! No threat! I spoke with Master Vandar and he is even more puzzled than I am!" She pointed at him as if she saw for the first time he was a loathsome liar. "You almost pulled me in! I half believed for a split-second." Her voice hollowed in the last sentence. Her mind was burning like it was feverish, her face was so flushed with rage that she barely heard Revan's question.

"Did the Jedi Masters ever talk to you of echoes?"

Her rage was caught off guard, her brow furrowed.

"Echoes? I don't understand."

Revan looked away in, what seemed like, shame.

"I suppose it was not a commonplace topic in the Enclaves." Revan looked back. "Throughout the force, you feel the waves of events. You see the cause and effects vibrate and tremble through not only planets and governments, but through life. The waves' origin is either a witting attempt for change or an unwitting natural motion. The waves distend and push events. It is through this motion that Sith Lords amass power, and through it that Masters can heal old wounds." Revan stared emptily, not truly believing he was telling this to Bastila.

"But…"

"No," Revan interjected, "I was guilty of both. Or a synthesis, if you like. I wounded and healed and knew both actions intimately. I recognize them now. I can see in echoes. I see effects and causes." Revan looked up at her, helplessly. "I can't convince you. I can't make you understand. I can't make you see why the galaxy is on the edge of slaughter. I can't turn away all the death. I can recognize it and take steps, but that's a far cry from saving the galaxy."

She shook her head.

"Why can't I see it?"

"I've tried so many times. The Counsel, Malak, you and even the Senate."

"Show it to me. I will see it!" Revan heard confidence and it sounded so wonderful. He would try once more.

"The Mandalorians didn't just decide to attack. The Jedi split as a result of the Mandalorian's war. That was an echo. It worked. There are no longer half the Jedi there once were. Heed my words. The split will get larger and then the Sith will turn on Jedi and a civil war will begin that will wipe this galaxy clean. It is all one great echo."

Fearing to see disbelief, Revan looked into Bastila's eyes. His heart melted. He saw horror. He saw realization. He saw belief.

After regaining her senses, like a baby opening it's eyes for the first time, she swore horribly. So much so that Revan felt compelled to plug his ears.

"Why couldn't I see it before!"

"Because it was in it's nature to go unnoticed, that is what echoes are designed to do."

"You have to do something!"

Revan suddenly felt very tired and wanted to sleep.

"I have made echoes of my own and it has all spiraled into a nice risky game of dejarik." Revan shot straight up as though smacked with a lightsaber.

"What?"

Revan's eyes were as large as saucers. He remembered…


	6. Chapter 6

-1Chapter 6: The Chorus of Furies

In a wave of sealed memories that had been imprisoned in the reliquary of his mind, Revan remembered why he was so confident in those dark days. He felt like grabbing Bastila kissing her deeply and dancing and singing. The somnolent depression had peeled away.

"Echoes!" He shouted at a surprised Bastila. He stood up and grasped her to him tightly. "My echoes." He whispered in her ear.

Before she could even stutter a question, Revan was gone and she was standing alone in the room. She sighed. He had left her behind again. It didn't need to be said that she had no idea what was going on.

She sat on the corner of the bed and felt of the soft sheets. Why was she even here? She was on a ship cruising the edge of the galaxy for no apparent reason. If there was a threat to be faced, she obviously would not be the one to face it.

-

Revan had the poor bewildered assassin droid by it's shoulders and was softly shaking it.

"My acting Generals! Who were they?"

"Confused inquiry: Generals, Master?"

Layers of frustration, accumulated over the last two years, overpowered his joy. He was so close.

"In the Mandalorian War, you twittering rust can!" Revan shouted.

"Obvious Statement: Apart from Lord Malak, you had a number of renegade Jedi under your command."

Bottling the frustration, Revan returned to his thoughts. "_Malachor…it was at Malachor!"_

"At Malachor V. Who were my commanding officers there?"

The droid did something very odd. It's head jolted to the side and angled strangely, as if it were searching for something that it should know but could not find it.

"Confused Admission: I am aware that it was said you sent your least loyal troops in as bait, but I am currently unable to procure the name of the commanding officer who led the attack." Shaking away confusion, the droid replied in a reassuring voice. "Naturally he was of no importance, since he was assigned to such a hazardous charge. Most certainly he is long dead, Master."

"Naturally." Revan sneered, looking off into the bulkhead.

Without another word, Revan turned to find Bastila. He found Darswa skulking around the corridor outside the dormitory he had left Bastila in. Brushing past him, he found Bastila still sulking.

He grabbed her chin and brought her eyes on level with his own.

"The pieces are appearing." He smiled comfortingly. "That always makes the puzzle easier. We need to go to Koriban. I have some ghosts to confront and then we'll see about the galaxy. We need to land on the southeastern hemisphere. You will see a depression many miles wide. Land on it's most southern edge but not on it."

She nodded subserviently, and walked back to the cockpit.

It was sooner than Revan had hoped when the ship touched the red angry planet. He felt that mad swelling of quiet power that the planet horded when the ship landed.

It was Bastila, who grabbed Revan by the shoulder, before he could walk down the ramp.

"I could go with you." She said quietly. Revan moved to say something but Bastila stopped him with a gloved hand. "I know what you will say. We still have that much of a connection left. But I needed you to know that whatever happens I could've been with you."

Revan closed his eyes. He couldn't speak; and what if he could? What would he have said? Why had she needed to torment him with that? Revan turned and walked down onto the darkening planet surface.

He focused on his surroundings. He couldn't say he felt much. To his left was a giant geographical bowl of rust colored sand. To his right was an uneven series of canyons and cliffs caught in the gloaming backlight of the Korriban sunset.

It was while looking at this unpromising death trap that he felt a fluttering presence. He could feel his synapses ignite and the midichlorians shudder. One might call it a signal, like a tap on the shoulder or a beckoning finger. Something had seen him, recognized him, called to him and now awaited him. There was no way of knowing what manner of force it was or how it's intentions matched his own. But for some reason, Revan did not know why, it made him uneasy.

Tightening his hand into a fist, he began to pick his way across the rocks towards that quiet presence. Revan expected to feel foreboding and anxiety, but no, he felt the absence of anything. As though the Unifying Force did not exist at all. As if something had slain it.

As Revan began to travel in the direction indicated, he began to see a sheer peak rise inside the canyon. It was in the fashion of a lone tower that culminated in a great spire. At it's base and in the floor of the canyon there seemed to be tunnels, pits and caves that could've been a city.

At the edge of the cliff, Revan stopped and surveyed the distances. A raw number crunch and then he leapt off the edge. He gently guided the fall from stray cliff faces and jagged rocks and decelerated so that he could catch himself in a crouch and roll.

The tower, much taller now, seemed more like a rust-colored blade. Brushing the dust from his robes, he started again. The shadows were gangly, long and deep inside the canyon. The air grew thicker as if Korriban suddenly gained an atmosphere heavier than Kashyyk. But as Revan continued, he found that musical notes could be heard. The sound of a woman singing with Opera-esque talent in a language unknown to even him.

It had words borrowed of the old native Sith, long since dead, coupled with the cadence of a waltz and old notes that had lost popularity decades ago. Whistles, like pipes, and beats like taut-skin bass drums filled the air. The sounds were raw instruments put to use by masters. The song of one-hundred-million strong in a whirlwind choral that an army could scarcely compete.

It was with a little terror, a little trepidation, that Revan walked closer. But somewhere inside, he felt a swelling of nostalgia that he could not place. And then, his name was mentioned in the song. It was cried out from those dusty holes in the ground. Then the voice began to take up the cry of his name!

Forms could be seen emerging from the tunnels. A mass of creatures. Some were Twi'leks others were of an odd reddish color, and unknown species. The Twi'leks formed lines, which the reddish looking creatures began to walk down. Odd reptilian beasts armed with spears stood guard.

As Revan cleared the last two-hundred feet, he noticed that they were all, every last living one, female. They were all singing joyously.

As the caves and crevices emptied, he heard the last verse die as an older woman left from the center column of caves. Her features reeked of elder power that could swamp any youth who dared challenge her. She had light garments and stripes of material draping over her so that when she moved it looked as though she were dragging a thousand scarves. Her white hair was put up in an impressive series of buns that made her seem towering and intimidating. Her features soften in an expression, not of love, but of relief and joy. Her voice creaked with age but contained power.

"Revan, It is with considerable relief that I see you now. You have changed so much I could hardly recognize you, either through the force or my old eyes."

Revan kneeled, it never occurred to him why. On the rise he marveled at it but came to no conclusion. The hairs on his arms stood up when he looked into her eyes. They were looking at him in some subtle amazement. She seemed to study him for minutes.

"Your mother is not here. But, yes, she is alive. She lives on Manaan, believing you will arrive to see her soon." The old woman sighed following it up with a sneer. "I think she chose to ignore your new found Jedi ideals."

"I am Jedi, am I?" Revan snorted. "You judge quickly. Who are you? Have we met before?"

"I am Ji-Anne, sister of the Lady of the Sith, Yelena. I know only the child I saw years ago and the most recent reputation you have made for yourself, son of Yelena."

Revan began to see the lines tighten in her face. He felt lines tighten in him as well. He felt his theories and hypothesis solidifying. He could see how the force collided in a series of carefully chosen directions.

"So we are kin, then." He said with a modest smile.

Revan watched the woman's ancient eyebrow raise in warning.

"Do not bring it to my attention, turncoat. Do not expect warm-heartedness from me. To me your are nothing but a black sheep in the traditional color."

"And yet I heard the word relief from you." He added.

She shook her head softly.

"Not for you, but for my sister. She has her hopes that you are the Sith'ari."

Revan reacted sharply. His ears tingled from hearing the word. His mother thought he was a prophesized god. Noting the surprise on his face, Ji-Anne nodded.

"Indeed. Surprised as I was, I see. I take it that you are not?"

Revan stood in silence. When he realized he was still on the spot his eyes flittered in embarrassment as he shook his head. Ji-Anne's face fell in obvious disappointment.

"I had thought…but no…" Her head rose with an exaggerated expression. The amusement of a Pazaak player that had taken a long shot that turned up nothing. "But what a thing it would've been if she had only been right. What a thing it would've been…"

Revan was on the point of agreeing with her when he heard a muffled scream from behind. On turning he saw Bastila Shan held tightly by a reptilian guard with a Twi'lek holding the hilt of Bastila's own lightsaber close to her head. Revan spun with fury, his saber flipping into his hand and it blasted out bright blue. He felt cold metal on his skin and looked down to see two brushed steel fingers touching his arm. Ji-Anne's artificial hand. Her eyes were wide in maniacal craze. She nodded.

"You will become the Sith'ari. I will make you."

It was not in a fit of intelligence or tactical savvy that made Revan strike a blow at Ji-Anne. Maybe it was defiance or love, but better sense did not win out. There were so many lightsabers that it lit the canyon. There were so many battle cries and so many attacking maneuvers all at once that Revan could no longer dissever one person from another. It was all one large rolling mass of Sith, enough to end the universe.

As he was bouncing attacks off of his own saber, he saw Korriban disappear and Onderon take it's place. A ground assault from the Mandalorians. The Mandalorians were far out of range and trekking through a low point in the dunes. Iziz was far beyond the enemy lines, and cliffs cut off the far right and the far left. A mix of republic soldiers and lightsabers charged the Mandalorian lines.

"Retreat to the high ground!" Cried a voice to his left, but he found his own voice bellowing over it.

"Do not! Alpha company! Preempt in the valley! A battalion to the left of the lines and one on the right! Don't open fire until Alpha company has engaged the enemy!" A barrage of affirmatives answered as they obeyed.

Revan smiled. He remembered the outcome. He gained Onderon back almost a year after it had been lost. He looked up to see a Twi'lek pommel him with the end of her saber. Smiling, he dropped to the ground.

His head swiveled to the right when consciousness hit. His body felt stiff and compressed. As he became more aware he saw he was roped to a column of rock. His mind spun. Had he been out for hours? Was he still at the tower? Not even sure he wasn't alone, he cried out.

"Where am I? What have you done?"

No answer came, but a cold wind. It laid bare his weakness and made him shiver. Upon looking down, he saw he was not only still near the tower…he was the tower! The great column of rock was the final spire at the peak of the tower. He could see nearly ten meters below him, a flat landing lit with torches. Bastila was bound and unconscious on the landing.

At first he thought it was only him an Bastila, until a cold gray female Twi'lek walked from out of a cave opening directly below him. Stopping dead center on the landing she looked shot up. She smiled when she saw Revan's open eyes.

"Eu fung!" She called out in a sing-song voice.

A rush of rhythmic voices replied. Soon the landing was full to capacity with all manner of Sith. Upon seeing their common garments, Revan had to wonder why their sect was so cut off from the conventional Sith. Why had they not participated in the political doings of the past century?

"He is awake at last!" He heard sung from the crowd.

"What do you want?" Revan managed. "Who are you?"

A drumming pulse rumbled from out of the cave. A great band occupied the landing while many cleared away to make room. The torches were combined in the middle of the landing to make a bonfire, that Revan could feel even as high as he was. Flutes scaled up and down while odd ivory trumpets were blown and in the background that maddening drum threatened to collapse the whole tower.

Revan struggled against the ropes and even tried reaching into the force, but found that the damned drum perforated his mind. He was still sliding and rubbing the ropes strands when he heard the hosts begin to sing. It was clear and beautiful like find a perfect stream of clear water. It was in basic and the words flowed so sweetly.

"**In the Start of our Life**

**Long and far from this place**

**We sought the death of our master's dead race**

**The jealousy masked in our amaranth hate**

**That bears to this day in spite of their fate**

**Laughing and screaming **

**A wide-awake nightmare, Diseased and believing**

**In mourning-deceiving **

**Ever in motion and ever in grieving**

**And Darkness Decay, and Hatred held sway.**

**To Dissever our souls from our hateful ways**

**Shadows now descending**

**To join in the Madness, The song never-ending**

**Wounds never mending **

**Wretched in countenance, The fear now transcending" **

Revan realized that this was a dialogue. They had answered his question. His mind raced to think of a new on so he could hear the voices again.

"What do you want from me?"

They began to dance around the fire like savages and sing once more.

"What do you want from me?" He shouted again.

There was a pause and then all resumed.

"**Some say you have a brain of the force**

**Some say you have none**

**But when death stars your vision**

**We shall see what you've done.**

**Will you fade out like a star**

**Can you in the end**

**Survive the coming war?"**

The verses ceased and the captors and their celestial/ethereal recitation ended in reverent silence. Ji-Anne had emerged in robes now more suited to the elderly head of a galactic tribunal.

Her hands, wrinkled and talon-like, called for absolute silence and stillness. Out of the corner of his eye, Revan saw Bastila tilt her head.

"You have returned to your clan, Revan. The Sith-Malai, clan of your parents, wills you to return to your tomb on the southeastern side of the depression. Among the remains of your teachings and the holocrons you find, you may find what we want of you there. If you bring it back with you, we will release you to your own devices along with your property." The old woman indicated Bastila. As she was finishing this last sentence, large poles boasting twisted blades on their ends were being carefully guided towards him. And as she uttered the last syllable in "property" he felt the ropes snap loose and his body stretched as it fell downward.

He landed on his knees in front of Ji-Anne. Her talons grasped his robes and hauled him to his feet. Grabbing his shoulders in a grips that would compact steel, she pulled him close and whispered in his ears.

"Your enemies are already on your trail. To this planet, from a galaxy away, they have sent a pilgrim with murder in his soul. He is here now, as you may feel."

Quickly she spun him and shoved into the cave.


	7. Chapter 7

-1Chapter 7: Testing, Attention Please…

It was near the depression, a day later that a small, insignificant, Korriban Sawblade Beetle scuttled down the edge of the pit of sand. It was blindly looking for a smaller being which it could oppress and hopefully devour, when, a mutilated hand with bitten nails and patched skin, swooped down and scooped it up. The hand pinched it in-between the few fingers that remained and the oppressor watched the insect's legs desperately kicked. Another moment of torture before the beast flung the beetle in it's mouth and chewed it to oblivion.

The sun was burning down the side of the sky, leaving the impression of red on an already red planet. Though the thing had hardly an eye left to see with, it's features were now intent upon a black silhouette climbing and picking through the rocks in the gorge below it.

-------------

Revan felt as though something were standing behind him. It was a feeling that had followed him ever since Ji-Anne had given him the warning. Revan kicked a rock out of his way. Whatever feelings of oppression and impending doom he had felt faraway on Coruscant, had been doubled now. If only he had not brought Bastila with him… How could he have let her talk her way into this? Why had he felt it would be okay or that it was a good idea? Revan's fist clenched. Never had being his constant companion been a safe occupation. It was not the place for his loved one.

Revan jerked his saber into his hand and spun, nearly igniting it. Nothing was behind him. Just the wind or perhaps another Hssiss.

Continuing up the slope his mind returned to his mission. His tomb. The fact that he had a base of operations on Korriban had never escaped him, but the thought of arranging to be buried here made his eyelids twitch. It was interesting that after all the hunting he had done across an entire edge of a galaxy, it occurred to him now, while climbing around in an unending crack on Korriban's surface, that he might not want to be privy to his entire history. The jeering thought that Vandar could've been right and that he might somehow later regret it, haunted him.

But he had come this far. To back out now would be ridiculous. The stakes might've been high but the alternative was not reassuring either.

Revan looked back over his shoulder. He was sure of it, something was there. He palmed his saber nonchalantly and in an instant, ignited it and stabbed directly behind him. A great gurgling hiss expelled as a Hssiss materialized. It slumped forward in death. Revan stared at the carcass. Somehow it didn't relieve the tension he had felt. Something was still out there. A "pilgrim", she had said. Traveled millions of light-years just to assassinate him. After scanning the cliffs, Revan swallowed and continued climbing.

---------------------

After another hour and a half's hike, he could see a structure lining the end of what seemed to be the world. The depression had veered away some miles back and all that was left was this vague pyramid structure that could be perceived in front of the stars far ahead.

A foul breeze had been blowing hot dust into Revan's eyes for the last mile. But when he heard a hissing from behind, he felt that it was not more dust colliding with stones on a cliff face. It sounded unreal and drier than dust.

Revan stilled his nerves and continued climbing. The structure was less than a couple hundred steps away, a mere matter of minutes. An unnerving observation was how Revan noticed his pace increasing seemingly independently of his will. It was though his feet knew more of his current situation than he did and if they were to be believed...then things weren't going so well. He found himself in a full-blown run.

Steps…stone steps. Revan nearly tripped over the first. Squinting his excellent eyes, he could see a trail of steps snaking up to the structure. The structure, now more clearly in view, was a step pyramid with various indistinct stone statues standing guard over the black door-less entrance.

Watching his footing, Revan began his ascent. But the more he crept forward, the more he could feel his skin crawl and his courage sap. The very breath of his body was stolen. He could feel triumphant blasts of irony sounding like trumpets, Terror rumbled and poured from the tomb like some Requiem Chorale. The many carved figures and statues came into view, indeed, they seemed to be kneeling in fake honor and jeered at him like he was some common court jester. He nervously walked the path to the entrance. In his mind, he knew the idea that he caused this abomination would haunt him every night of his life. '_My hands are trembling!_' He thought. '_I cannot breathe._'

He could feel each step weaken him and he could sense a great blazing presence waiting to attack at his weakness. He felt it stalk just at the edge of perception as if testing the boundaries at which it could remain unspotted. Every pore of his being could feel it snarl at him like a giant hidden rancor. Doubt poured in as this force focused on him.

Perhaps it was only fantasy, some driven nightmare that was founded in the planet that consumed him. But he could not shake the feeling, could not break that predatory gaze from the darkness. It made him into prey. It made Lord Revan of the Sith fear. He heard the crunch of ground behind him. The sound of old dirt collapsing beneath a foot. He would fight. He would lose. Revan despaired his life.

Like a blasts of thunder, lightsabers were drawn. Revan turned to hear the hum of an approaching blade. He made to parry, but the blade was not there. The lightsaber was extinguished and it occurred to Revan that it had been a feint. The crackling of a lightsaber igniting sounded behind him. He knelt and performed the Soresu parry eight, Hedatei, the arrow parry. Blade contact was made, but the offending blade vanished there afterward and one that had been positioned at Revan's head ignited. Revan spun around from his kneeled position to receive the blow in his shoulder. Singeing searing pain, and the feeling of crisping flesh. Revan still had not clearly seen his attacker. The thing had always been in the black of shadows.

Revan flipped backward and raised his hand to the sky, lightening issued and lit the canyon. It was a thing of shredded flesh and robes. It's infernal hands were missing various fingers, its face missing an eye. It's hair was a thin spider web gray. It's skin was black mottled with gray. It's top lip had been torn away leaving a clear view of it's sharp carnivorous teeth. The one eye it had left was pooled with dried blood, so that it was a mystery how such a thing could even see. It seemed something that had been long dead and rotten and had been sung alive.

Revan reached out into the force to grab at it, but recoiled in shock at what he found staring back at him through the force. He staggered back as if blinded. He could not use the force against such a thing. It's appearance was far more unlovable through the force than when consumed by bare eyes. He found that he could not stand the sight of it.

It's mouth made a chattering motion, as if chewing something particularly hard to eat. When the lightening faded to leave the canyon back into darkness, he heard a weak wispy laugh.

Lightsabers spawned out of the darkness in a random rapid assault that would not end. They would attack in swinging slices and thrust only to disappear and reappear elsewhere. Revan used all his skill to keep himself alive but still refrained from attacking through the force. Above all else he could not glimpse the thing again. He would rather dodge lightsabers the night through, even though Tràkata was not a form he had ever combated before. Even Kreia had never taught him how to deal with such sublime blows as ones to disappear.

He continued to leap and bound from rock to rock, barely missing appearing blades. He felt a pain in his side and wanted more than anything he had ever wanted in his life, to lay down and gasp for breath. Overtime, he felt the force take over from his muscles and propel him. The Ataru form slid on him like a glove, but it was only slight relief. The assault had been going on for what seemed like hours and the blades wouldn't stop. He had gained five wounds since his wound to the shoulder. In his mind, he knew that if it continued much longer he would not have muscles to dodge with.

Revan sparred on with the darkness. The thing bared forward and chased Revan among the rocks and precipices. It never seemed to tire, as if it never had a limit to it's stamina, whereas Revan's leaps dodges and parries began to show sloppiness and fatigue. His blade work was slower and his actions were no longer curt and accurate but large and clumsy.

Revan leaped behind a large bolder hoping a for a few seconds rest, but the bolder slit apart as a saber zippered through it. Revan somersaulted backward and found that to his back was the edge of a cliff. A cliff so severe that he doubted he could find the bottom even if it hadn't been pitch black.

Revan leaned back, letting two swings come short and slipped to the right to dodge a stab. Revan could see small trace glows of light from beyond the canyon, when suddenly a dim red glow flooded the canyon. He felt it coat him and it felt so good he wanted to fall to the ground and cry. It was a Korriban sunrise. He could see his attacker was ahead of him, skirting the edge of the cliff. Two withdrawn sabers, one in each hand. He could sense a small modicum of unease in it's hideous form. It's camouflage was gone, and the thing was exposed. Revan shuddered, it looked even worse in the light. Revan flipped over it's head with the sun to his back. He struck the edge of the cliff with a bolt of lightening and then initiated a Jung Ma spin, causing the wretched thing to tip off balance as the ledge it was standing on, collapsed. It's arms waved as it fell backwards. It wasn't long before it passed from sight.

Revan's hands raced to cover the gaping wound he accumulated in the fight as he fell to the ground. Tears of relief and exhaustion blurred his vision and the relaxing of his muscles only seemed to make them ache all the more.

One thought entered into his head before he blacked out. That thing, whatever it was, was whatever was waiting for him at the edge of the galaxy. Some old ragged form of an alien species that _they_ had trained all that time so far from sight. In essence, Revan felt it was safe to say, that whatever it was, _it was a true Sith_.


	8. Chapter 8

-1Chapter 8: According to Plan

Revan felt a nagging breeze ruffle the sleeve of his robe. It wafted over him like a caressing hand. Revan opened his eyes, hoping to see Bastila, but instead found that he was staring down into an illimitable canyon and barely inches from tumbling into it.

He quickly rolled over and sat up to see that it was near midday and still hot. His mouth was dry and his lips patched and leathery. It was obvious by now that he had perhaps a day or so before he died of thirst, which might be enough time to travel back to that tower.

Revan smiled to himself through his patched lips; he wasn't going to let the possibility of dehydration stop him.

Shielding his eyes from the desiccating wind, he began to stumble back towards the tomb entrance.

In the clearness of day, Revan could easily spot the signs of last night's attack. Hewn boulders and a mess of confused tracks led from the steps of the tomb to the cliff edge Revan had just left.

Revan tried not to think of the creature he had faced. Even if it had not died in the fall, it would take it several days to work out how to get back up the cliff.

Finally, he was steps away from entering the tomb…

With no small amount of apprehension, Revan passed the arch into the tomb.

Quickly a stone table, concealed high above, slid over the entrance, blocking the light. Revan paused a moment to see if anything else had been triggered.

Despite the arid setting, the inside of the tomb seemed to be humid and the walls showed signs of dampness and some sort of green plant matter leaching off the minerals. In the hallway directly ahead, there seemed to be a light flickering. Cautiously, Revan crept closer.

After descending a short slope, a torch lit room came into view only a few feet ahead. Dead in the middle of it stood a darkly robed figure.

Revan's blood froze and his muscles ground to a cramped paralysis. The thing stood perfectly still, with it's head lowered. It seemed unable to comprehend it's surroundings.

Gathering some stubborn courage, Revan move into the room, but still the figure did not respond. Closing in on the figure, Revan called out to it, but it did not move. Revan's hand touched the being's hood and pulled it back.

Revan felt the room spin. Under the hood were yellow eyes, and normally blonde hair turned an odd gray. Revan was staring into his own face of two years past. The wide yellow eyes quickly locked onto him. The lips formed a warm smile, then it spoke in a gravelly dark voice.

"This is all a precaution." It stated, matter-of-factly. "What you are seeing is a failsafe. This body is a clone imprinted with all the knowledge you will require regarding the imposters."

Revan's mind raced; had he actually planned for this contingency of all that had happened? Impossible! Slightly, stunned, Revan lips finally found a voice.

"What is this place?"

"This is an ancient massassi temple that I claimed as a base of operations during my time here in the southeastern hemisphere. It contains old training holocrons, some that I studied and some that I created."

"Why did you…I mean, why did we create all of this?"

The clone smiled.

"I calculated an eighty percent possibility of Malak's betrayal and foresaw the attempts of the Jedi."

Revan's eyes doubled in size.

"All of this from a vision and a number crunch? What is threatening the galaxy?"

The clone smiled.

**AACCOORRDDIINNGGTTOOPPLLAANN**

Ji-Anne stood at the crest of the tower. On the far out horizon, a silhouette could be seen traveling closer.

Bastila saw it as well. She knew in her heart, that it was Revan. It had been close to two days since she had seen him, but since then, even from miles away, she could tell there had been a drastic change. Through the ragged remains of their bond, she felt a sense of doom and despair. She noted the heavy gait with which the figure walked. "_Exhaustion._" she thought. Her teary eyes closed, as she felt the last drops of hope evaporate. Something had gone terribly wrong. It was not just exhaustion. How could things deteriorate to this? Bastila couldn't understand. They set out to do something, they didn't even know what, and now Revan was returning like the universe was dying. The sound of joy was obvious in the old woman's voice.

"Cut her bonds."

Two guards slithered to Bastila and sawed the dried plant matter that held her hands behind her back. It was in a flash of a second, that Bastila whipped her saberstaff free and ignited it.

It was to her surprise that her former captors merely ignored her and gathered back into the cave entrance. Ji-Anne did not move, though. She stood on the edge of the platform and watched in silence. Bastila powered down her saber.

"She worked so hard." Ji-Anne said. She shook her head sadly. "But I fear the end result, though beautiful, is not as intended."

Bastila wanted to know what she had meant, but refused to speak to the old hag, and as though it were understood, Ji-Anne began to explain in slow sad words.

"His mother, my sister, planned this all so carefully. This entire academy, hidden on the underbelly of a dead planet, it's purpose has always been to find the Sith'ari. Yelena thought she had found the potential Sith'ari, but he was a fool instead. So she thought that his child, by her, might have the necessary elements."

The conversation continued, but only through tension and marked glances as the figure drew closer.

**AACCOORRDDIINNGGTTOOPPLLAANN**

Revan watched, thoughtfully as the crowd gathered. No song this time, only morbid silence. Bastila stood beside Ji-Anne, both waiting expectedly. No dream Revan could've had would have been more surreal, no sight stranger than seeing the family of people all dressed in webbed robes of black lace and pale faces starring like hungry orphans waiting for scraps. Bastila stood in the middle of it, as though, it were all a mere hallucination, from which, she was waiting to be delivered.

Normally, Revan's forehead would've been glistening with sweat but he had found that his body could not produce any. The surreal scene was beginning to fade and turn slowly darker and dimmer. But before he passed out, he could see concern on Bastila's face and a grin from Ji-Anne. "_Damn her._" He thought.

Water trickled down on Revan's face. It felt so mercifully cool. He saw Bastila tipping a calabash canteen over his face so that it barely sprinkled him. His eyes felt strained and dry. Broadcasting despair through Bastila's grated link that they once shared, Revan realized exactly how numb he felt.

To his left he saw Ji-Anne, overseeing him. Her grin was gone and her face was now expressionless. What more could she possibly want from him. She knew damned well he had seen and heard what she wanted him to. Revan's eyes dropped. Coming to this place was a mistake. A big mistake.

"Your mother is on Manaan in Ahto City." She said, coolly.

Bastila shook her head.

"He can't return to Ahto City. He has been banned."

Her eyebrow rose.

"Your popularity is underwhelming. Well, if you cannot go to Manaan, then you may never see your mother again."

Revan made eye contact and his eyes burned with an unearthly glow.

"I will go, by force, if necessary."

She smiled curtly.

"Then let us hope the force is with you." With that she turned and walked away.

**AACCOORRDDIINNGGTTOOPPLLAANN**

Revan saw the minutes fly by. Bastila called his name a few times as they left for the Hawk. His ears heard, but his brain ignored it. His eyes were closed. He was picking his way through the canyon through the force. Over his back and under his cloak was a pouch holdings crystals and holocrons containing all that was ever Lord Revan.

The Hawk was in view; he could feel the familiar pulses and resonances of the freighter. Darswa was skulking around inside, moving from consol to consol. But these things were not on his mind. They were samples of the information feeding into Revan.

He was changing. Changing into something he had never been. Bastila was talking more persistently and annoyingly than before. Something about "not taking the current situation at it's face value."

As they approached the loading ramp, Revan sent a bare thought through the force around them. Bastila jerked as it happened. The loading ramp slammed down. Revan sensed Bastila frowning, worriedly, at the display.

"Stop being a child!" She chided.

Revan marched up the ramp.

"I was never a child." He breathed.

As they enter the ship, Bastila turned to Revan to say something, but he silenced her with a gesture. It occurred to her to wonder if he had used the force to silence her, or not. They walked stealthily into the astrogation chamber. Another bare thought forced open the storage doors to reveal a hidden Darswa.

Revan smiled inwardly. Darswa had felt them approaching and assumed position. The stories would flood now. Darswa looked up in fake terror which was quickly replaced with unconvincing relief.

"You wouldn't believe, what happened!" He started spinning stories of narrow escape, but Revan refused to believe that an average ambassador could escape the notice of force adepts.

"You are very good at concealing yourself." Revan conceded.

Darswa smiled and nodded.

Unimpressed with the predictable display, Revan walked toward the western dormitory. "Set a heading for Manaan." He called back.


	9. Chapter 9

-1Chapter 9: Don't Stop Me Now

The worlds and systems buzzed by as Revan watched them morosely from the Hawk window. He had been over and over the Holocrons. He had literally pulled from them every ounce of knowledge. They now sat silently on a shelf in their demonic triangular shape.

He was amazed at how quickly he learned it all, but then some of it was never forgotten and instead of learned was remembered. Some of the lessons weren't even fully formed postulates or theorems, but rather ideas and abstract thoughts of the force and how it should be used. They were treasure troves of frightening ideas that would terrify the naïve.

Revan stilled, he could hear Bastila outside the door. She was indignant.

"You will let me in!"

"Refusal: The Master left orders not to be disturbed."

"The Master is disturbed!"

Revan chuckled to himself and spirited the door open. Bastila quickly sidestepped Hk-47 and shut the door behind her. Turning her attention upon Revan.

"We need to talk."

Revan turned, smiling lightly.

"And what shall we talk about?"

Her eyes told him that she was frustrated. In fact, she might have well not even spoken. Revan understood her problem from the pulse of her heart.

"What would you say if I said 'you have been avoiding me?'"

Revan turned away. He _had_; desperately.

"I would say your hair is pulled back too tight."

"Our link is not what it was. I cannot… I just don't understand you anymore. What I get from you is depression and despair, but I don't know why. I feel fear but no cause. I think our link is dead."

"How fortuitous." He said under his breath. "I don't under-"

"Revan!" It was the cry of someone who saw a dark shadow in a window or red eyes on a dark night. She was pointing towards the Holocrons. Revan shuddered relief.

"Merely souvenirs." He assured her. He felt her blood boil. It would never be the day when she would actually trust him.

"I think your lying! I think your betraying what you stand for by admitting these…deceits!"

Revan's eyes flashed upon her with ill-regard.

"I think your arrogant. Opinionated. And a staunch hypocrite." He started walking towards her. "I think that this mission could get along without you. I think your presence here is hurting the entire galaxies' chance at survival."

Her fists clenched.

"I think your lying." She repeated, barely masking her anger. "You've made all of this up! This whole mission is a ruse!"

Revan turned away and laid himself down on a nearby bed.

"You're obviously suffering from being a complete idiot."

Bastila sat at the foot of the bed and wrapped her arms around him. He almost cried. It felt so wonderful; like being cradled by the very soul of bliss.

"I love you. And you love me."

Revan tore himself from her just to see if he actually could.

"Whoever said that, was lying." He growled.

"You said that!"

Revan nodded

"I was lying."

"Fine!" She stood up. "I don't care. You don't have to love me. You can hate me forever. Just tell me what's happened. Do that for me; the old me, the one you didn't seem to mind."

Revan shrugged.

"I am doomed. I will die, thousands of light-years from this place fighting against something that can't be stopped." He took a big deep breath, held it in, and then sighed.

"What can I do? I am not Sith'ari. I'm not even close. I'm not a god." He gave an amused laugh. He thought. "But I have to try."

She kneeled in front of him and tried to look into his eyes, but he looked away.

"For the force's sake, what is it? Revan, what is this thing you can't stop? Paranoia?"

Revan grabbed Bastila by the cheek and caressed it.

"If I make a promise, one that I'll keep, will you set us down on Manaan."

"What?"

"I promise that I'll explain everything! I will answer every question." He brought her cheek to his and kissed her gently. "I promise."

They hugged tightly…wait! _They hugged tightly_? No. She hugged him. There was no return affection, but Bastila wanted it so badly. She knew that he had hugged her back, she felt it. "_He must've_!" She thought, as she left him there on that bed. She knew it so much she hadn't heard what he had actually said. He had said: "I promise I will leave you with every question answered."

Revan watched her leave. When she had left he simply sighed one last time.

**DDOONN'TTSSTTOOPPMMEENNOOWW**

Revan watched the blue celestial body, Manaan, sink into view through the transparasteel windows. He gave it slight regard. It didn't matter if they tried to stop him or if they forgot about him altogether. It didn't matter if he could simply walk into Ahto City or if they were fool enough to try to stop him. Subtlety was no longer worth the effort.

"_Nasher._" He thought. His mind remembered a silent taciturn Jedi named Nasher, Lungri Nasher. Black circled-eyes and raven-haired. Revan could remember no more, just the name and the ghostly visage that corresponded.

Revan glanced back into the Hawk dormitory and saw Nasher standing tall. His purple lightsaber was drawn and at his side. He radiated nothing, neither hate, fear, peace nor anger. He stood there with the dark emotionless eyes of an automaton. The vision faded, leaving Revan shaking his head.

"How can it be that so much is balanced on so little?" He asked aloud. And in his mind, as the Hawk descended on Ahto City, he wondered if Nasher was even still alive.

**DDOONN'TTSSTTOOPPMMEENNOOWW**

The loading ramp hissed in descent. He saw the hangar guards approaching, weapons bared. Revan destroyed their minds with a wave of his hands. Confused, they wandered back out of the door that opened up into the Ahto City customs corridor.

Revan sent another signal through the force. Any normal force sensitive would call it a wandering pulse, a natural occurrence; but Bastila called it a signal. The Hawk raised the loading ramp and fired it's thrusters. Revan watched it jet away.

Feeling the Ahto city guard close in around the hangar, Revan latched his stealth generator around his waist. He could hear the panel on the hangar door being utilized. Quickly he set the settings on high and pressed the activation switch just as the hangar door whooshed open.

The guards gurgled and stared for a few seconds at the total lack of intruders or even the presence of a foreign vessel. After their small minds accepted that they would not receive an explanation for the odd happening, the plodded back out the door. The door slammed home and locked, which was fine by Revan, as he was on the other side.

He left customs and walked out into the city. The lighting was dim and crepuscular, and the seas were topped with angry white-capped waves. The air smacked heavily of brackish ocean spray and all that could be heard was the harsh rustling of the wind.

No one was outside on the street. Irony had prepared a storm to scare away onlookers. It was after the next junction that he could see a veiled figure overlooking the sea. The figure turned so that Revan could see. An odd smile flashed on his face as he saw the woman. Her face made so many memories bubble to the surface that the very soul of nostalgia was caught up in the flux.

Her features were sleek and streamlined with no noticeable signs of age besides attractive streaks of gray in her black hair. Her attire was a long silky robe of dark puce that seemed to trail her no matter how she moved.

Revan reached out a hand to her, but she floated down an Ahto city tunnel off to the left. Racing at his fastest, with the force helping his muscles, he was in time to see her disappear behind a flooded alley. Revan burst forward and turned the charge into a leopard-like leap. He landed with a thud on a structure's dome roof. His hand grabbed the roof to keep himself from sliding off. Looking up, he saw her dive over the edge of the city into the water below.

Not even bothering to get off the roof first, he simply soared through the air until he hit a wave with a smack. After the shock subsided, his eyes caught blurry sight of his mother swimming into an underwater cave.

Revan stretched his air through the force and gulped it back down. He shoved the water aside as he dove deeper and deeper to the cave entrance. By the time he passed the arched entrance, the light had totally dissipated. He had to admit, Revan was surprised when he hit the pocket of air. He walked up out of the water onto dry rock and sand.


	10. Chapter 10

-1Chapter 10: Walking on Water

Wiping his eyes dry, Revan saw a treasure of plunders, both sithly and mere treasure-hunter style. Jeweled diadems, impressive scepters and gleaming crystals were all present and accounted for.

"Eheu fugaces anni." Came a sad soft voice. The voice was gentle, soft and deep.

Revan turned with boyish joy to see his mother. She stood only but a few feet from him, her hair now wet from their swim. Her face seemed a well of memories. The slight wrinkles that defined her beautiful face were mystical charms that made her face a darker crackling pool of power. Her black slanted eyes and her black long hair painted her into such a Mephistophelean witch. She was smiling, but in a way, that it was sad and painful to see. She opened up her arms and Revan ran to her. She wrapped her arms around her as if he were still only a child.

She grasped him by the shoulder and pulled him away from the puddle at the cave entrance. She sat him on a warm decorative Manxive Guunan dynasty rug. It gave off a pleasing perfuming heat.

She sat in front of him. Her eyes quickly dove into his soul, analyzed every thought he had ever had and snapped back in time to smile.

"You haven't forgotten me completely, have you?" She asked. The words seemed to tumble and echo in the cave. Revan shook his head.

"Of all I had lost…I remembered you, if only slightly." Her eyes flared in triumph. "But so much else…" Revan's words trailed off as his head dropped.

He saw Phragmoghra VI. There was a blonde-headed boy, nothing older than four years. A more beautiful and younger Yelena was behind him in a bright robe. She had hold of his right hand which had hold of an ignited blue lightsaber. She brought his hand up and twisted left and the both of them made a downward stroke against a boulder. The intense blade carved into the rock a deep gouging stroke. The two then disengaged and made an upward draw shot that cut an "X" into the stone. Years flew by. The rock was worn by wind and storms of decades until the deep cuts were no more than slight burns.

Revan looked up into her eyes. "I am told to distrust you." She smiled innocently.

"You obviously remember my teachings. You can trust only one thing."

Revan's eyes cut to the size of dire darts.

"I've learned to trust in balance. Balance."

Yelena sighed and shrugged.

"Kreia had always other motives and they were not always balanced. But I am satisfied with balance." Her eyes sparkled. "I only wanted to see it happen and know that I facilitated it."

Revan nodded, somewhat sulkily.

"Yes, I have been taught about your experiment, scientist Lady Yelena." Yelena shivered at the remark and glanced at Revan, warningly.

"I abdicated the use of that title long ago and I never wanted it to begin with. But as you say, I am a scientist."

Revan laughed, darkly.

"I've become something of scientist, myself." He said.

Yelena reached out her small clawed hands and plucked something off the floor next to them. Revan stared at it as if it were a deadly serpent. It was his old Sith Lord mask. The smooth curve of the cold metal and the bleak knife like eyes. Down also on the floor was his old cloak. His hand felt over the mask in a longing caress.

"I've kept them for you. When I had heard that the Endar Spire had been destroyed near Taris and that escape pods had made it to the surface, I went to the ruins of Taris and scoured the planet for it, not you." She smiled at his surprise. "The Jedi had spread their propaganda that Revan had been destroyed. But, oh, I knew what had really happened. You did what I knew you could; what I made you to do."

Revan's hand retracted from the mask and he looked up at her. A warm gratified smile was there on her face, behind it was pride.

"The ability to control the force." He said slowly.

Her eyes widened in approval.

"Yes. To actually control it. To balance it or tip it however you desire. Not just a command of the force but ultimate indifferent control." She stuffed the mask and robe into drawstring pouch. "Your fool of a father had not the slightest clue as to how powerful the gift was. But I knew." She pointed back down at the pouch. "Do you remember how you received this mask, my son?"

Revan's hand went to his head.

"My mind was damaged by my apprentice."

Revan recoiled in shock of himself. He had called Malak his apprentice.

"Yes. I know." She said soothingly, caressing his cheek. "The fool." Her smile was so sad. "This was the battle mask of the feudal lord of Falleen." Revan nodded. He had been right. "When your father, who thought he was charging to the galaxy's salvation, stormed the palace, he beheaded the lord only minutes before he, himself, was gunned down from behind by the palace guards. When the Sith took the palace, I was there and I pried the mask from your father's grip and the lord's head." Her smile left and her eyes became serious and severe. "I thought it a fitting reminder of foolhardiness. When I returned to Korriban I left it in Ragnos' tomb, knowing full well you would be the one to find it and claim it."

Her hand caressed Revan's face in adoration.

"My masterpiece. You will need these icons again. I have also your old lightsaber crystals, your old lightsabers were too damaged."

"Lightsabers?" He asked, repeating the plural.

She smiled sadly and shook her head.

"My poor puppet, they took so much from you. Set you so far back. You were an indomitable master of the Jar'Kai coupled with Soresu style with leaning in Sokan and when you wore that mask you employed Dun Möch. Your masters said you were also competent in Ataru. So you see, you had twin lightsabers."

"I laugh when I think of the things you will do." She said.

She walked gracefully, almost dance-like to one of the treasure-laden shelves. She brought back six crystals, three in each hand. One was a teal green and was in the shape of interconnected bubbles, one was an obelisk of a chalky red mineral with a diamond star in it's center, one was an interlaced lattice affair comprised of transparent chartreuse rods and yet another was what looked like a piece of clear glassy pumice. Of the remaining two, they were dark red crystals. She laid all of them in the pouch and tightened the string. Taking the pouch she secured it around his waist.

After starring at her for a time, Revan spoke.

"I only want four of those crystals." He said. She looked hurt and worried.

"Yet, you will need all six." She insisted. "Just as you will take this mask and this cloak." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "You are afraid of an aspect that never had a hold over you. The borderline between dogmas is an illusion to you. I thought Kreia had made that clear; otherwise, I would never have let her train you."

Revan shook his head, barely recalling the name 'Kreia'. Yelena reached into her robe and pulled out two sabers. One was made of a black ionized metal in the shaped of a claw, the other was a crystal and ivory ordeal in the shape of a feathered wing. "These were made by a Master Siosk apprentice, the best sabersmith that ever existed."

Revan grabbed the black saber. He stared in awe as his hand wrapped around it. It felt as if the hilt was grabbing his hand and was such a perfected grip. He grasped the other to find the same reaction. He latched them both to his belt.

Revan looked up to thank her, but Yelena was already standing and another lightsaber was in her hands and she was smiling gently. The saber ignited a deadly green. Revan stumbled backward until he fell on his back.

"Stand, please." Her eyes widened and her smile was eerily perky. "I have at least one more test before I will be satisfied. It's not a test that could be passed by anyone less than the Sith'ari."

Revan started shaking his head. Noting the gesture, she gave the saber a threatening wave.

"If you are concerned for me then you are an arrogant fool who knows nothing of the force, nor of me and I have failed. In which case, I would kill you." She began to circle him. Her face changed. Revan had been fooled. She hadn't cared at all for him. She was witch. "Then again if I kill you, then that would make me the true Sith'ari." She laughed a deep evil laugh. Revan felt sick, literally physically ill. She was insane.

Revan pushed himself up from the floor. Not waiting for a response, he palmed his saber and slashed a deep "X" in the roof of the grotto, beginning a cave-in. Glancing back before leaping into the water, he saw his mother standing calmly, as if waiting.

Hitting the cold water, he shook off his shock. Dodging Firaxian Sharks, he surfaced on a rock pillar just beyond the city walls. As he climbed the rock to the top, he heard klaxons wail and loudspeakers blare. Looking behind him he saw the entire Ahto City guard scrambling from every corner of the city. He was about to catch his breath when he heard a lightsaber ignite, the green glow reflected in his eyes. Looking like a drowned rat, he tiredly glanced up to see Yelena. There was a single beat, or one melodic pause, before time resumed, before the army behind him opened fire, before Yelena attacked. And in a flash, it was gone and Revan was spinning in the air deflecting shots and parrying attacks. He did not have ample time to ready the other two sabers. It was his single blue saber.

Revan was tearing himself apart by using both Soresu and Ataru with the same saber at the same time. It was a technique he had learned by himself apparently, the use of a Soresu parry as an Ataru attack and an Ataru attack that easily disengages into a Soresu parry. The result looked like a whirling dervish tornado of light. A supinated pivot and his Soresu parry of eight turned into an inverted Ataru Fazah draw shot that made Yelena relinquish the high ground.

Taking the high ground, he kept the blaster shots at bay with a Soresu shield spin technique and used the inertia from the spin to make a high slash at Yelena that she dodged. She made an attack, to which, he quickly parried and was about to repost when another lightsaber ignited and caught his own in mid-attack. It's glow was deadly red and it's hideous possessor was grinning with it's mangled teeth.

Revan surrendered to the force and unleashed an unending series of parries, attacks and deflects all in a desperate attempt to hold the high ground, but after a blaster shot dislodged the rock he was standing on, he tumbled down the far side of the pillar. He found that on the far side of the pillar he escaped the blaster fire but gained the full attention of his other pursuers. Using one parry to parry two attacks and attack as well, was becoming tactically impossible. He was now hanging on the edge of the rock when he overstepped and was sent flailing to the sea.

His mind froze time and space as he saw the fire reopening on him and the two saber-wielding enemies descend with attacks. His mind flipped through hours of lessons taught by masters across remembered time and throughout the galaxy. None of them would help him now. If he was to survive, he would have to create a few lessons of his own.

His mind stretched to the frothy body of water behind him. He could feel it's physical significance on the subatomic level. He could feel the surge of midichlorians that ebbed and flowed along in it's pendulous motions. He felt them group and emanate upon his command, he felt them obey.

Revan fell to the sea and landed on it on his feet. He spun his saber like a copter above his head. He felt both assailants pass through, losing pieces and chunks of precious flesh. The pilgrim hit the water and sank as if it had no breath to give it buoyancy. Yelena hit the water and made for the rock edge.

Revan made confident, smooth, skating-like strides over the water's surface while blocking the blaster fire with ease. Reaching down, he heaved his mother from the sea and slammed her into the rock side. Her left hand and leg were gone and floating in the waves. Her eyes were red and bloodshot.

"You're a god!" She cried through grunts of pain.

"Are you satisfied?" Revan yelled over the noise of a thousand blasters.

She took her own lightsaber and held it in front of her.

"For you!"

Her eyes met his own and for a moment, she smiled as she brought the lightsaber around and removed her own head. It bounced and rolled into the sea as her body collapsed. Revan watched indifferently and in disbelief. He heard the splash the head made over the blasters.

Not wanting to mourn at the exact moment, Revan skated across the lake surface deflecting bolts. He sent his signal through the remains of his link with Bastila; she would land by the time he fought his way to the hangar.

Through a single thought, he turned a mere wave into a tsunami that stormed over the city walls and washed the guards from their various posts. Revan quickly took advantage of the hiatus in the assault to gain as much ground as possible. He made it past the city walls and onto solid concrete when the fire returned, only to be batted aside.

Revan flew through their ranks and they were just barely able to see him and totally unable to hit him. Any shots they did manage were merely reflected. Revan saw the Hawk descend just as he made the corridor. But in entering the corridor he found that it was stocked with armed Selkath that immediately opened fire. The first wave consisted of exactly forty-five bolts, as Revan counted. He held his lightsaber in front of him and drew the bolts to it through the force. The bolts converged on a single point on Revan's saber. They hit it like a club and refracted into the side of the corridor, blasting a hole.

As soon as he saw the loading ramp lower, Revan bolted through the hole and into the Hawk. As the ramp raised and the ship took off, he reflected the few stray shots that came his way.

When the ramp latched shut he nearly collapsed. He felt, on his side, the pouch carrying the mask and all the other possessions.

"Bring us into orbit!" Revan shouted exhaustedly.


	11. Chapter 11

-1Chapter 11: Guess Who's Back

There were so many thoughts to think that Revan's mind was overloaded. All of the angst and drama he had witnessed left him feeling a little hollow and detached. He staggered into the west dormitory. Passing all the artifact he had plundered from Korriban, there was a empty outfit for a lightsaber.

He pulled out the monoclinic crystal with the diamond eye, the lattice crystal and the only other color crystal he had, blood red. In assembling the lightsaber, he realized it was a morbid affair and what it implied. Securing the various pieces of the lightsaber with care and strapping it to his side, Revan walked to the cockpit. Bastila was at the commands.

"It would be prudent to leave this system immediately."

The Hawk tilted and the thrusters fired, but the hyperdrive did not kick in. Revan put his hand Bastila's shoulder.

"Revan, I'm not doing any of this!" She began to frantically operate the panel. "The controls are locked! We are being pulled on a preset course."

Revan's eyes narrowed.

"Where?"

Bastila looked up in horror.

"The Manaan star."

Revan looked up to see a great glare that nearly blinded him, but even blinded he recognized the sound of a lightsaber igniting. Whirling around he saw Darswa with a dark sickly green saber in one hand which had been the silver head of his cane and a vibroblade in the other which had been the cane itself in a sheath. His smile had not disappeared, if possible, it was wider.

Revan looked up to see a great glare that nearly blinded him, but even blinded he recognized the sound of a lightsaber igniting. Whirling around he saw Darswa with a dark sickly green saber in one hand which had been the silver head of his cane and a vibroblade in the other which had been the cane itself in a sheath. His smile had not disappeared, if possible, it was wider.

"So you are Revan." He said through his smile.

Revan turned to Bastila.

"I'll handle this. Get this ship as far away from that star as possible."

Revan stood up and his lightsabers leaped into his hands and ignited.

"What are you doing Darswa? I thought you were a ambassador?"

Darswa flourished his weapons in a threatening spin.

"A better liar than an ambassador perhaps, but I'll make up for it. I get to kill Lord Revan and if you please, address me as Lord Megalo. The almighty survivor of the Sith."

Revan snickered.

"Neither will you be facing Lord Revan nor are you a Sith Lord."

Megalo's smile faltered like a flame that had met wind.

"You _are_ Revan of the Sith?"

Revan shook his head.

"Formerly. You'll just be killing a gray Jedi of no great importance."

Megalo backed out of the cockpit and into the Astrogation room, shaking his head.

"You're the same man, it does not matter."

Revan's eyes began to dully flicker.

"Would you like to battle Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith?"

Megalo nodded like a hungry kath hound.

Revan reached into his cloak and produced the Falleen mask to Megalo's astonishment and awe. Now flames could be seen blazing Revan's eyes they were eclipsed as the mask was latched into place and the hood of his cloak pulled forward. He slowly gloved his hands and gestured for Megalo to begin. Megalo pitched away the vibroblade after calculating the possibilities of besting Revan at his own form.

Megalo leaped forward into the attack and time froze. Revan marked that Megalo was positioned in an aggressive forward position with his green lightsaber burning over his head. His feet were already off the floor in a leap, most likely an aberration of Juyo.

Revan retreated into a rear defensive stance with his swords raised for a Jar'Kai parry of 1, Liao, the scissor parry. The space was too tight to practice Sokan and he decided against Dun Möch because he didn't want to wreck the inside of the ship. The parry trapped Megalo's downward slice, but he merely inverted the attack into a low stab which was pushed off to the left when Revan's right saber dropped, forcing Megalo to miss his mark. Revan used the opportunity to attack with his left saber, which Megalo dodged and answered by beginning a Jung Ma spin. Revan stepped in and stopped it with the Jar'Kai parry of 3, Lisan, the wall parry, and head-butted Megalo to the floor.

Revan initiated an attack he had developed when he first studied by the light of the Sith holocrons. A devastating series of four over head swings that targeted a grounded opponent. It required a Jung Ma spin, but he couldn't expect such a pitiful sith assassin to counter it from the floor. The first deflected against the green lightsaber the second grazed his face resulting in shiim wound about the left cheek, the third and fourth harmlessly struck the floor. Megalo used the force to recover and right himself quick enough to launch what Revan now remembered Zez-Kai Ell called a Reek charge or a fool's charge. The desperate move. Revan averted the blade with a simple Djem So supinated parry of 2 with his left blade and moved out of the way of the charging Megalo. Revan turned as Megalo had passed him and seared the inside of his right knee, burning through the hamstring.

The Astrogation room began to feel very warm and light was pouring from the cockpit down the hall. Revan knew that Bastila had not yet changed the ship's course. Revan was taken aback when he looked back at Megalo to see the green lightsaber hurtling at him in a spin. Calculating at high speeds, Revan slashed the lightsaber in half, ending the beam. Megalo was no longer in the astrogation room, he had fled. In a touch of Dun Möch, Revan's voice rang out in gurgling hate.

"You must be desperate to sacrifice your weapon."

Silence answered.

Revan stepped into the cargo bay. He stalked around the room but paused in the middle of it. His masked face scanned the room as if looking for something hidden in the air. After a moment his mask focused on space near the supply case.

"You are here. Your hope to hide from me is as realistic as hoping to kill me. But seeing as you chose to believe in both…"

A Durasteel canister flew from across the room and struck something that groaned. Lightening erupted from Revan's outstretched hand. It struck something unseen and then a wounded Megalo collapsed to the floor. Revan centered on the fallen Sith.

"…You will die."

A blast of force slammed and pinned Megalo to the bulkhead while lightening poured out of Revan's hand as if he were filled with it. He ceased, but kept Megalo pinned. A piece of Revan's mind, that had been pushed aside, tugged at him to go check on Bastila and help right the ship, but he couldn't make himself leave the scene. He concentrated on Megalo as his fault line for hate.

"Pain."

Lightening crackled over Megalo as he wrenched against Revan's hold. When the bolt had finished, Megalo's clothes were pouring smoke.

"Plague."

Megalo's extremities began to turn gray and die. He looked down in horror, his eyes wide, his mouth silently screaming in pain. The gray death crawled up his arms withering his limbs and there stopped.

"Perish."

White flames engulfed Megalo's body and a scream was heard over the popping of the flames. When the flames extinguished there was only ashes remaining. Revan felt as if he had donned an old familiar uniform worn so long ago. It felt so powerful and nostalgic. The murderous one-sided duel left him slightly starved for more but his sensibilities rescued him as he remembered the ship. He turned to run for the cockpit when he saw Bastila in the doorway. She was swaying and her eyes looked unfocused. Revan was slightly confused when he remembered what he was wearing.

_The Mask._

Bastila tipped, but Revan was there, caught her and cradled her in his arms.

GGUUEESSWWHHOO'SSBBAACCKK

Revan was sitting by Bastila's bed, contemplating. She had sliced the computer and corrected the ship's course while the duel had been fought. There was really no telling how long she had been standing in the doorway. Revan cursed to himself. She should have stayed where she was. Some fool concern for his well being must have entered her mind or perhaps she had sensed what was happening through their bond.

Revan had removed the mask, but after seeing in the med bay mirror what had been behind it since he had put it on, he replaced it. He had to embrace power. But not so much power, he told himself, as the aggression and initiative that his old title lent him.

He saw Bastila stir and twitch. He had to be on his guard, he did not want the wench to catch him unawares. Bastila's motions became more violent until she seized and bolt upright. Upon seeing Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith before her once again, glowering, she began to scramble back against the wall. Her mouth opened in a scream, her bottom lip quavered and her eyes teared.

Revan couldn't help smiling underneath the mask. To inflict such horror was a sure sign of true power, power to save, power to protect, power to kill.

"Stay back!" She commanded in a wavering and falling voice.

"Look at yourself!" The voice gurgled behind the mask. "You are cowering away from me just as the Jedi cower. Such a disposition is not fit for fending off the coming darkness. Look at me, I inspire fear and am not afraid."

"How could you do this to me?" She stammered.

Revan rose in a fury which only made Bastila cower more.

"TO you? I do this _for_ you! It is the only way."

Bastila covered her face with her hands and sobbed into it.

"You have gone mad, Revan. You're insane… There is no threat to the Galaxy except yourself."

Revan raised a placating hand.

"I lied, I am a greedy person and I do this for me and not for you."

Revan reached into the force and felt that cold feeling of dread, like there was something inside the force starring at him, analyzing him for weaknesses. In the background he could feel his tattered bond with Bastila. He shifted the focus of the dread into the path of his bond. In his ear, he could hear horrified screaming and moaning but could not tell the source. He released the force and felt the surroundings of the ship once again.

Bastila was crumpled onto the floor, whimpering. She appeared overwhelmed with emotion. Fear.

"You can't. It will destroy you. That power, such horrible power." She sobbed. Revan's emotion-buffered face stared at her coldly.

"Deal with those who hate with hatred, not pacifism. Otherwise you will become the victim and them the victor. The Jedi have no way to deal with this. It is beyond even their impressive scope."

He advanced towards Bastila, and she regarded him with caution.

"All I've done through our travels have been to strengthen the Republic. The Wookies can be tapped as a possible source of soldiers. Manaan is no longer a dead zone and no longer a planet of contention for Kolto. In time, a synthetic Kolto will be born because of my actions. Korriban is no longer a resource for our enemy. I had originally intended to utilize the Star Forge, but the flaw in that plan was the Jedi counsel."

He raised his fist in frustration.

"Always holding back! There is also another element I set in motion long ago. I had forgotten it and it's a shame as it was my most brilliant plan. I created a being that would be immune to the power you have just witnessed and I have an idea that he will be trained to become quite powerful. He will join me in mortal combat with whatever this force is at the edge of known existence. Only he and I are equipped to meet such a force. I have made sure that the Republic will act as a spillway catching that which we could not stop. I must become the Dark Lord once more and I shall take only that with me. If the other does not join me then I may fall. See that he is found."

Bastila rose with flames in her eyes. A wave of force fueled by anger burst from her, rippling towards Revan, but it hit him and broke like a wave tends to do against a rock.

"You can't go." She whimpered. "I see this new destiny of yours clearer than before. You will be curled into small dark space as the last refuge you know as safe. The darkness will have closed in around you cutting off your air as it devours you alive. There will be no glimmer of hope. No shred of peace or anger will aid you in this place and no one will rescue you as you predict. But that is not where you will be defeated, not in that plane, not on that battlefield. Your defeat is here, now. It is contained in what you are about to do."

Her lightsaber ignited. Revan questioned her seriousness, until, he saw in her eyes, the same flames he had felt in his, moments ago. They had blood and tears in their irises. Her mouth opened and mouthed the word "please".

"Stay." Her voice was anger.

Revan stared her down and shook his head.

"I'm not staying, Bastila, and I would rather have you strike me down now then take you with me."

Her voice returned to her but she could scarcely use it to growl over her own sobs.

"I'll kill you."

Revan opened up his arms as if to say: "Here I am, Bastila. Strike me down."

Bastila threw the double-bladed lightsaber dead aimed at his head, which Revan caught by the middle. He could feel the force trying to tug it out of his hand. He released it and it flew back into Bastila's grip.

Her left hand ran through her hair, which had been freed of it's bun. Her right hand shakily raised in front of her. Bolts blasted from her fingertips and rocketed towards Revan. Revan fell, reeling from the pain. When it had finally had subsided, another blast of lightening blasted. It occurred to Revan that she might kill him, but if she did, then it wouldn't matter. Another blast and Revan's eyesight was fading to black. He could hear Bastila growling in pure anger.

"You won't leave!"

Revan could hear the sound of lightening ripping through the air, he heard himself utter a dying groan and then he was deafened and blinded. But Death felt softer than he remembered. He felt a warm softness enveloping him. He opened his eyes to see Bastila holding him. Her eyes were pouring tears, but there was still that deadly anger.

"Just say you wont go." She sobbed.

Revan felt his lips part, but found that he could no longer form words so he slowly shook his head. She grabbed the sides of his head and stopped them and collapsed around him, hugging him to her tightly. He put his hand on the back of her head and held her close. Revan smiled, but couldn't help think to himself that he should've never told her.


	12. Chapter 12

-1Chapter 12: Blue Skies for Everyone

Revan carefully eased out from under Bastila's arms. He was as much of a fool as she was. He had let this come too far and indulged too much. He looked at Bastila's unconscious form. He was selfish, selfish of Bastila and jealous of those who have the luxury to love.

He silently crept from the room and cursed to himself. He had hurt them both by letting it get this far out of hand. If the old Bastila was still there, the blunt arrogant spoiled child, she would have never let it get this far. But Bastila had changed so much.

Revan sat in the cockpit controls and made more than a few course corrections.

"_It will end now._" He thought to himself as he set the ship, with a few stops, to land on Malachor V. "_Everything will end._" And as he felt the hyperdrive kick and the mass of stars blur, he wondered to himself, how it had lasted so long.

The sound of the corridor door opening echoed through the quiet ship. Revan jumped from the chair to see a morose Bastila with tears dripping from her eyes. Revan brought his gloved hands and laid them over his mask. Bastila held her breath while Revan unlatched it. Her hand went to her face as the mask was lowered. A despairing groan escaped her lips as the burnt yellow eyes met her own.

"My promise." Revan growled. "This is it."

She grabbed the side of the bulkhead and slid to the floor.

"I was created by the Sith as a potential Sith'ari. They created me with no purpose in mind." Revan chuckled darkly. "Just to see if they could."

Bastila's eyes went glossy and her face blank.

"I don't know what I am. A freak, perhaps. And I was basking in the Jedi's overprized peace when the Mandalorians attacked. I saw… I knew what made them do those horrible things. I saw it through the force and it terrified me. But I also knew what I was. I gathered to me faithful, who would help me; and I started to heal through death."

Bastila started to shake her head and her glossy eyes closed. Revan, irritated, slammed his fist into the side of the bulkhead.

"And then you came." He seethed. "My darling and her band of fools. I slaughtered what few of you I could, but then, my own flock turned on me."

"Would you've…" A weak voice called out.

"What?" Revan's face strained to hear.

"Would you've killed me?"

His eyes boiled at the stupid question.

"Fool! I was _trying_ to kill you! Just as you were me."

"We didn't…"

"_You_ didn't."

Bastila slumped against the bulkhead.

"I didn't" She repeated.

"You've killed me now." He whispered to himself.

The two sat in complete silence until the thrusters on the Hawk kicked. Revan stood from the chair and looked out into space.

"Oh, look. It's your stop." At the word "stop" Revan slammed through the force and grabbed Bastila by the throat. The force pulled her into mid-air so she could see the view.

It was Coruscant.

"Hk-47, Ready the escape pod!" He yelled out.

The red droid clanked into the room.

"Yes, Master."

Revan hoisted Bastila up and held her helpless through the force. He felt her struggle only slightly. He towed her into the astrogation chamber to the storage room. HK was ready, holding open a panel that had been concealed. Past the panel was a single chair and small navigation board.

He brought Bastila's face close to his and tried to turn her head. Holding out his arms, he relinquished his force grip and embraced her in a powerful hug.

There was a second where Revan felt his plan fall apart. A shard of his mind utterly refused to do what he was about to do.

"I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear. "But…" The anger rose back into voice.

"This is where you get off!"

He pitched her into the pod and the panel slammed back. Her face was pressed against the transparasteel. Revan waved as the pod released and jetted away.

Bastila watched Revan fade and the Hawk shrink. It was over…all over… Her fist clenched, her mouth dry. Tears pooled in her eyes as she sobbed while the escape pod gently drifted to Coruscant…

HK-47 watched with delight as the little pod trickled from view. Turning it's eyes on it's master with new admiration, it's vocabulator sprung to life.

"Interrogative: Where will you go now, master?"

Revan strode past the ruddy droid to the cockpit. Readjusting the navicomputer, he sat in silence in the captain's chair. A few seconds passed until he heard the clanking of his droid's metallic feet. It stopped after it had passed the threshold.

"I am going to Malachor V." Came the cold reply. "There awaits…an old friend and perhaps," Revan watched flotsam, dust and debris float through space before the hyperdrive engaged. "…a new enemy."

He felt the thin bond, between Bastila and himself, tremble. Horrible sadness and despair floated from both ends. When an odd thing happened, such a thing that has never happened in history of the force.

The Hawk disappeared and there was nothing, merely space. Before Revan appeared Bastila, kneeling. Her hair hung untidily about her face, which was lowered.

"You are gone from me." Came the echoic voice. "I wonder now if he was the Sith'ari."

The last shred of pity and love in Revan's heart poured forth and he knelt next to her and put his hand upon her shoulder. That feeble shred grew and out of it emerged a different Revan than the one sitting unconscious in the captain's chair. It was the very soul of Revan and all that he truly was. He called out to Bastila.

"You can hear me. I am there with you."

Her face looked up in bleary confusion.

"Revan?" She sobbed. "I can hear your voice."

"The truth," He whispered. "I am Sith'ari."

She sobbed loudly in reply.

"I always was, but will not always be, nor will I be the only one."

"But why?"

"There will ever be shifts and fluxes in the system of balances, but somewhere behind the force is one who favors life over power and control. Because the devil of the force's machinations is that it wishes to utilize power and that power is often utilized to destroy life; but it is life that lends it that power. Dogma aside, there will always be a struggle to obtain the perfect balance and in that struggle the force pockets lifeforms to fight itself. These lifeforms could fit the description of the Sith'ari, but in truth they are ballasts. The amount of ballast required describes the threat. If you pay attention you will see two rising. Myself and another."

"Who else?" Came Bastila voice.

"Lungri Nasher."

Revan recalled the tall Jedi Knight with long black flowing hair and steely features. He was there with them, in nothingness, and Bastila could see him.

"I say 'the force' selected him, but in truth, he was my doing. If you should, in your travels, meet this Jedi, see that he follows me but do not make a friend of him. He is our only hope, but still he is not wholly mastered."

"You say the force did this, the force does that, what do you mean? What is the force your talking of? A god?"

Bastila heard the old Revan's chuckle.

"Not a god, Bastila. The force is nothing less than the sum of life. As if some massive freakish democracy with powers instead of funds that are invested in what it sees as important potential. It is a bi-partisan house where a mass consensus rules even though that consensus is never stable and is ever shifting from one trend to the next. No the force is far from a single sentient. Did you not notice the indecisive pattern of a senate floor in the subtleties of the Force?" Bastila slowly shook her head. "Ah, you did not wish to see it in such a light. One hates to dull a romanticized topic with realization and truth."

"Come back to Coruscant, Speak with the Masters here. They will hear wisdom and truth."

"The wisdom you speak of has thinned and is blinded. While you are falling back into their arms, you will see how, even now, they are oblivious. Goodbye Bastila, there is a chance we may see each other again."

Revan felt something snap in half as he awoke in the captain's chair. Inspecting his hand, his mind felt remarkably quiet. A noisome tear in his mind had healed. As he was about to test the assumption, he heard a klaxon sound. Red lights began to flash. He regarded them, but did not react immediately. He felt himself consumed in a stupor. Little metal clinks punctuated the klaxon.

"Warning: Master, the trash-compactor has informed me that an alien vessel is approaching us through Hyperspace. I highly doubt that it has peaceful intentions."

Revan's mind flashed with pure terror, to which he jolted upright. It was following him. Forever following him… Not ever stopping. Revan felt himself panic. He felt the muscles in his arms tense and then tense again. His mind struggled. "There is no fear there is anger!" He growled, holding his head.

The Hawk slowed out of hyperspace. Revan's eyes shot open to see Malachor V spinning sadistically beneath him like a spectator and partial judge. Rallying his courage Revan stood.

"Land this ship on it's plotted coordinates, HK With or without me."

Minutes later Revan was suited in a pressure suit and was ascending the elevator to the outside of the ship, when the entire ship jolted as if it had been struck with an asteroid.

Disregarding it, Revan opened the hatch and went outside.

The Zero G disorientation set in and caused an unwilling nausea, but as things shifted into focus, Revan saw a small thimble of a ship embedded into the Hawk's outer hull. From the ship, climbed that hideous creature. Not waiting for Fear to attack first, Revan charged, lightsaber drawn.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Fahrenheit

A counter verses a parry, versus a riposte, versus a dodge, feint, disengage, bind and a powerful slash. The two traded blows that would've made the ancient saber masters flush with embarrassment. It was all tactics and foresight on Revan's side, as his suit prevented perfect maneuverability; but the thing responded in blinding speed.

The system worked. The flow, ebb and back and forth of battle was grueling and tested the limits of the battleground to such an extent that Revan was nearly forced off the edge of the ship to the other side.

Revan did his best to ignore the surrounding and focus of the movement of his opponent's blades. This technique failed when the Hawk drifted into a dust encrusted satellite of Malachor. It was an old ship that had circled Malachor V so long that dust accumulation had made it into a small moon.

Revan flipped backward onto the moon. His landing caused the drifting object to dislodge from the Hawk and float away. He saw the creature, glaring jealously from the Hawk's hull, which was now above him.

Revan smiled to himself, he knew that in their next encounter no long lost mother, Selkath squadron, or pressure suit, would save it's mottled skin. He would tear every scrap of flesh from it's pale bones.

It brought a chuckle to him, remembering how poorly he had faired against the thing on Korriban. That had been it's only chance of killing him, and it failed. He retracted his saber. The ship he had landed on would have some form of escape pod.

Revan felt the right boot of his pressure suit crunch on the hoary rock crust of the moon. He could not hear his footfall from inside the suit; just as he did not hear the footfall behind him. He did not hear the lightsaber ignite, nor did he see the glow. He did not hear it hum when it swung to attack, but he felt it. Dodging the attack in an awkward tumble, he spun around to see that horrible dysgenic malformed creature. It's flesh was dwindling as it was depressurizing in the light atmosphere. The thing was dying.

Revan awed at the thing, it was incredible!

Revan couldn't attack in the suit. He no longer had his sabers, he had lost them in the tumble and were now behind the thing.

The creature flailed forward in a quick and uncoordinated swing. Revan tried to dodge, but it struck the right leg of his suit, rupturing the maintained pressure. He could feel the air suck out of the suit, like a balloon deflating. He cupped the break with his left hand while trying to roll away from the creature's wild attacks.

It was over; he would die, here on the edge of a rock of nowhere, after having accomplished nothing. No grand outline of destiny or design of the force would save him. No Jedi trick or Sithly manipulation would save him from this thing that would not die. He would not save or rescue or bring balance. All his plans, his genius schemes came to death at the hands of such a simple puppet. He would have to let it end. Malak was right. He could not become the Sithari. He would be everything and nothing. He could not walk on water…

Fear.

He felt it again.

It was killing him.

Now.

On this moon…

The same fear that petrified the Jedi. The same fear that Malak could not understand. He may have underestimated it. Indeed, it was powerful. A power that would paralyze.

Revan steeled his nerves and reached out into the force. There it was. It was staring at him with It's real eyes. It was hate and power on a different plane, unlike anything in this galaxy, Sith or other. Fear was it's fuel, unlike the Sith's anger or the Jedi's peace. Revan felt the debris of force about him, floating across the moon. It was with him like a fallen comrade, but it was enough. Rallying all his concentration on the fear. He felt it precede down the same line. Fear leads to anger. He felt it swell in him like a sickness. The creature was thrown from the surface and struck by a _cloud_ of lightening that reduced it's pitiful form to ashes.

Revan felt those hideous eyes close and the fear end. Revan felt confused. What was it he had been afraid of? What could it have done to him that would've been that horrible? He watched the mist of ashes scatter and flutter down to the moon's surface.

'_The Hawk!_'

He watched as it throttled into reentry. The pressure in his suit began to get light. Revan looked at Malachor V. Even from his view, he could've pointed out Trayus academy to any bystander. He looked at the ship he was on and then once more back at the planet.

'_Bother the damn escape pods!_' He thought. Picking up his dropped sabers, he began to run towards the edge of the moon. In one massive leap, he bounded straight for Malachor V.

Revan soared through the dust and metal scrap that was floating around the planet. He smiled, as he recognized the Orniter's hull plate. It was a ship he had once boarded for a time and the same one he had placed in Nasher's care. He rocketed past it until he felt himself caught by the definite pull of the planet below. He could ride it all the way in. It was Revan's way of daring the universe to kill him. He dared it. If it did kill him, then it didn't matter, but if it didn't…

It was few minutes before he felt the friction of the first layer of atmosphere. A quick brush through the force and it was no more than mere pressure. What seemed like minutes later, he felt the heat seeping through his barriers. Revan tightened his focus and brought his descent to a slow so he could control the tremendous heat. By the time he could make out land, the heat was throbbing through the little protection he could muster. He wouldn't have even tried it, but he had credited Malachor V with a thinner atmosphere.

He felt his pressure suit charring and disintegrating. The remains of the suit broke apart and fluttered away. The heat was now starting to char his robes.

The force is like a tremendous muscle, the pure force it can exert is sometimes unknown even to the user. Revan felt an untapped well of muscle that he had been unaware of, even in his dark days. It was the last reserve of power that practically crystallized the barrier around Revan, making it impenetrable.

He could see the bridge to the academy through the blur and the occasion spurts of flame. …It was guarded too. There must've been nearly forty Sith apprentices keeping watch, to fend off Storm Beasts.

How staggered they were, when a black streak of lightening struck the ground before the bridge, creating a huge crater and kicking up a smoke screen of dust. Fifteen or so were brushed off the bridge into the chasm below. Several others were struck by branches of the lightening and disintegrated. Many others seemed afflicted with a pressure that gently crushed them into little puddles. The rest burst into blue flames and were ate alive by them.

When all cleared there was a figure in black that silently passed down the bridge into the academy.

Revan saw to it that the door was shoved aside and that the quaint lightsaber-wielding doormen were immolated into piles of ashes.

There was a throng of motionless dumbfounded students, whose ranks blocked entrance to the core. Revan waved a gloved hand and they flew aside, smacking into the granite walls. The doors separating him and the core, burst open. Several students, who had righted themselves, charged, lightsabers drawn. They were tossed aside without Revan even acknowledging them.

The smooth, albeit sharp and cold architecture reminded him so of the days he had spent under it's roof after that final battle of the Mandalorian wars. It was a powerful place far before the wars, but it had doubled in strength. Far off in the core he saw the old woman and a select few of her apostles. They were naïve enough to listen to her ideology and bent philosophies. He laughed inwardly, because several years ago he could have been any one of those eager fools.

Upon seeing him approach, the crowd responded. He felt four of them through the force worthy of slight regard. They were the charred remains of the battle that had been fought here.

They approached him, lightsabers drawn. One dared to take the time to speak. With a wave of a hand he was sent to his death into the planet core. The other three, he could sense, had thrown up walls of defense against such obvious ploys. Having fought the original Sith, these few paled in comparison. The three of them rushed him. Revan's lightsabers hummed to life. Quickly dispatching the attacks with a Soresu parry of eight in the left hand and an Ataru parry of four in the right, he dodged the third attack and sliced one of the sith into three equal pieces with a flying Sai Tok. He was about to dispatch the next two when they stopped, frozen in mid-action. An annoyed old voice cackled over the hum of the lightsabers. It sounded with every taste of royalty and haughtiness as Bastila's.

"Have you come merely to slaughter? Genocide was never your style."

Revan waved his hand and sent the stunned students skidding into the center ring of the platform. Revan's dark voice crackled from behind his mask.

"I _have_ come to slaughter, witch. I see that you are poised to assume the title of Lady of the Sith."

Her cold eyes, in their fogged way, were critical and stony as if they still held sight of a kind.

"I assume nothing; whereas, you assume much." She held a bony finger and pointed at Revan. "I can read it through that fake disguise you wear." She lowered her hand and sighed. With a careful gait, she strode to Revan where she whispered. "If it answers those questions, I meant never to veer down this path; but the force, as always, has designs on me that I could never control."

Revan brushed past her, cackling.

"How unsithly of you. Letting the force control you."

He passed to a column and waved his hand. An aperture in the column slid open to reveal a concealed elevator. Kreia, walked into the elevator and Revan followed. The door closed and the machinery whirred as it descended even lower to the core.

"Don't be foolish. The force commands us all." She said in a huff.

"It does not control me." His voice boomed. "And spare me your lectures I have heard them before."

"And evidently you have not learned." She countered sourly.

"Yelena is dead now."

"Ah. So you _are_…"

"_I_ will do. I am not _the_ Sith'ari, just _a_ Sith'ari. You no doubt have seen the one who will come to best fit that title. A millennia or so from now, and I will better compare to any half-wit Jedi or fool Sith that this universe has ever seen, than they to his right arm which he will lose."

She stared at him in appraisal.

"You see more in him than you do yourself?" She shook her head. "You do not yet understand that contrast in power between that comparison. You are already better than the sum of every force-wielder I've seen."

The elevator ceased descent and the screen slid away again to reveal an office of sorts. Kreia proceeded to the far side of the desk and sat in the chair located there. Revan sat in a chair provided on the opposing side.

"Why have you come? Your battle is not here. We are simple Sith, not the threat that I know you seek."

Revan smiled beneath the mask and replied in a throaty rumble.

"I am not assured of that yet, but I have a request of you."

Revan gazed at her through the mask, he could feel her heart beat jump.

"And what would the great Revan have me do?"

Revan's eyeless mask bore into Kreia's milky cataracts.

"You will find my exiled Jedi."

There was a sigh of approval.

"Ah, that one. He will be difficult to find, much time and effort will be consumed in locating him, and in the end I do not think he will meet your expectations."

"I find that if a man may survive the force being ripped from his still living body that he can survive, oh so much more."

"I see that the attack of the Jedi _has_ damaged your memories. He did not survive, he merely retained the use of his limbs. His spirit and strength deserted him as he deserted the Order. You will find him little use against the trials you face."

"That is why I have come to you. You once taught a slightly impulsive force-sensitive the ways of both the Jedi and the Sith. You made him intimate with the force in ways that perhaps a handful of force-sensitives have been in all remembered history. I only ask that you do it again to one perhaps a little less gifted."

Kreia rested her hand on the desktop. Revan already saw it as an aggressive move. She was purposing to attack him in mid-discussion.

"I am unable to see why I would be predisposed to do all of this."

Revan reached up and unlatched his mask and let it clatter down on the desk. He smiled as he breathed in with a hiss and laughed darkly.

"I had forgotten how smothering that mask was." His smile promptly faded into a sneer as he refocused on Kreia. "Don't be absurd. You already know you will do as I propose. You find the prospect of the Exile even more fascinating than I do. One who has rejected the force to survive. Your various philosophies and ideals must be tingling with apprehension."

Kreia retracted her hand and her eyes hardened.

"That is not to say-"

Revan held his hand up to silence her. He seemed annoyed and frustrated and Kreia did not want to task him too much.

"You listen well, witch. I see your mind and it's traps and baits; I hear your voice as I always have, but it's influence is tired and spent. There is one who needs your aid, as I needed your aid. The summation of the force and the teetering balance of galactic life is on a blade's edge and that one has far to come. He has endured my grinder and has survived. Respect that, as it was more than you or I could possibly hope, but not yet enough. I gift you the Ebon Hawk and it's droids which have no doubt landed outside the academy. You should use it to track him, test him and train him. I see what you will do, but that is beyond my power to stop and if he is truly who I seek, then it won't matter anyway."

Kreia looked like someone who was about to accept a wager. She seemed hesitant and eager in the same breath with indecision at the helm.

"It is my offer to you. You may test your precious little theories and dogma on my creation. In return, you must train him as you did me." Revan's smile crept back upon his face as he folded his hands over his lap. "Think. How can you refuse?"

"But why are you so confident that he will not listen to me?"

Revan had to think fast. This was the question that would set in stone, or shatter, his entire plan. He saw a million possible answers and more than half of them would make her utterly refuse.

"I fought alongside him. I know what he is capable of; and exactly what he would do."

Revan saw resolve quicken on Kreia's features. He wanted to laugh aloud and smile in victory, but maintained his sour expression. Faith in a person's beliefs and or abilities and their loyalties were not highly prized by Kreia. She knew that a person could be broken to do practically anything. If she had only known that Revan knew. He simply knew without a measure of doubt. In her mind, they had just made a wager on a man's decision, and their differences in doctrine would war and the best ideal would triumph. But far from the truth, Revan had just won. He _knew_.

"I agree to the terms." She said.

An air of relief passed them both. Kreia would no longer have to attack him and he would no longer have to kill her. She was far too valuable.

Having his mind turned from his moment of tension, Revan moved on to mundane details.

"Now that that's settled, I will need a small list of provisions."

She made a funny noise that she no doubt thought was a laugh.

"I can imagine."

"Palatable food."

"We may be pressed for the amounts you will require, but I think we can manage it."

"A flyable vessel."

"I hope style is not a requirement?"

"Unimportant."

She nodded her head.

"Fuel."

She sighed with obvious boredom.

"Yes, of course."

Revan smiled unpleasantly.

"Excellent. By the way, the students out-"

"They are your creations as well."

Revan tilted his head back and gave loud long laugh, to which Kreia looked away in disgust.

"Is that display necessary?" She asked, icily.

He rose from his chair, grabbed his mask and tucked it under his right arm. He stretched languidly.

"Then I should be back within the next six years, give or take."

"I would not rely too heavily on untested apostles." She said, warningly.

Revan glared at her intensely.

"I find that untested apostles are often more reliable than tested ones." He said with a touch of foreboding. He shrugged, dropping his glare to the floor. She no doubt did not understand the irony he had intended. Revan noted that being too close to the problem often obscures perspective, especially when looking to the future through the force.

"I will have your 'provisions' seen to under the condition that you do not slay any more of my 'tested apostles'."

Revan nodded. He had killed enough to ensure that Kreia would survive their inevitable revolt. What happened beyond that was in the hands of the force. But he did not like the looks of the two that had survived in the core. Creatures of the force that survived the orchestrated tragedy that befell Malachor V would become twisted and hollow. They would not be easily recognized by the Jedi, nor defeated.

They would attack… Revan felt a deep dread strike him in his center. He saw the splinter factions of the Sith attack, confuse and destroy what remained of the Jedi. Bastila would fall.

"Are you quite alright?"

Revan heard Kreia's voice. It snapped him back to reality. She was attempting to pry his mind! He snapped it shut on her like a steel trap. She cried out in initial pain but then it faded.

"You're mad!" She cried. "You are going back after that foolish child!"

Revan growled and shoved her away.

"I'm warning you! Stay out of my mind, witch!"

"After what the Jedi did to you, you are going to go to Coruscant!"

Revan scoffed.

"Is that concern, Kreia?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"Amazement mixed with disappointment."

"Ah. Go, and prepare my ship."


	14. Chapter 14

-1**Chapter 14: The Jedi Council**

Bastila weakly meandered through the vast colonnade of the Jedi Temple. She passed under a marble arch into a room literally made of water. The misty air hit her and soothed her dry sore throat.

The massive polished durasteel walls made the room seem cold blue. There was a winding path that cat-walked over the chasm of crystal water far below. Down deep in the great lake of water below, were a thousand nozzles that blasted water far above the catwalk in thick jets. The result was a cold blue room with a forest of fountains.

In any normal state, Bastila would be thrilled to see it. But she merely walked the path where it met other paths in a great circle of chairs buried in the thicket of water. Congregated in those chairs were the remaining Jedi Masters. Masters Zez-Kai Ell, Vandar, Vrook, Atris, Vash and Kavar were all present and accounted for. They looked nervously from one to the other, as if they were expecting the temple to collapse on them.

It was Vash who broke the silence.

"You come here alone in an escape pod. What has happened to your ward?"

Bastila could not force herself to look them in the eyes. She delayed this meeting as long as she could, but they would have to know.

"No longer does he listen to me. Our bond has failed."

The council broke out in an uproar. Vrook seemed only partly successful from showing utter rage. The others began to fidget in their seats. If Bastila had to guess, it seemed as if they were afraid. Afraid that Revan would hold some form of grudge. Bastila knew that Revan held no such grudge. Revan understood that the council was a predictable force that acted openly according to their beliefs. They were nothing more than a predictable animal following it's own set of principles. But their thin understanding of the elements that were conspiring around them caused them fear. It was Atris who stopped them with her clear magisterial voice.

"It was mostly due to Bastila's bond that we were able to contain him for so long. This was inevitable. He never was a _true_ Jedi. But I wonder…" She pause for moment while she folded her hand. "Why did he not attack?"

Bastila's voice was calm and quiet in answer.

"You are of no interest to him. You never were. He believes…"

"What does he believe?" Vandar asked.

"He believes the Galaxy is about to be destroyed."

The look of pure dread covered Vandar and Vrook's faces. The others seemed quite confused.

"From what?" Vash asked.

"From fear!" Came a thunder-like crack.

Standing in the hallway of water was Lord Revan of the Sith. His visage made it seem as though he had parted the water just so the emotionless mask could glare coldly at the council.

Vash and Kavar responded quickly with sabers. While the other masters stood and backed off. The thing in the mask tilted it's head to the side in, what seemed to be, an amused look of disbelief.

"Lo, the Jedi attack in peace." He raised his gloved hands. "I have not threatened or attacked you."

"Vash, Kavar!" Rumbled Vrook. When the two young Masters powered their lightsabers down, Vrook stormed up face-to-face with Revan.

"You are not welcome here, darkling."

"Do not bare your old fangs at me, Kath hound!" Rumbled Revan. "I came for only one thing, and that was to share wisdom."

Vrook laughed, dryly.

"You're questionable wisdom is not welcome here either."

Revan walked past him. Disregarding all of the masters, he walked to Bastila.

"I did not come to cast pearls before swine." He placed a heavy hand on Bastila's shoulder. "I do not have the energy to argue with all of you. Darkness will have consumed you and crippled all before I could convince you of anything."

Vandar hobbled toward the black creature.

"Your arrogance has not changed! Converted, they said! We recognized that the true threat…"

A little spark of red flashed from behind the eye slits of the mask, as Revan regarded the tiny Jedi..

"That's right. I know, Vandar. You saw the threat just as I. And just as I was, you were afraid. You were afraid! Fear! I controlled it, but it controlled you. What had you intended to do? Wait for it to expose itself? It could destroy us all from billions of light-years away. You would never know long enough to ignite your lightsaber. You decided to wait while they compromised our last line of defense to see if they would actually introduce themselves? What stalwart fools!"

"We could've used a Mandalorian victory to draw them from their hiding places." Countered Vrook.

"Don't fool yourself. If you are so afraid of an enemy to preempt an attack, then you are too afraid to fight it."

The Masters made various protests, to which Revan did not respond. He grabbed Bastila by the shoulder and whispered into her ear. Her response was a wide-eyed look of panic and a slack jaw.

"Do as I told you." Revan said aloud.

Revan looked around noticing that the Jedi had begun to circle him. Each Master with their hand on their sabers.

"You are under arrest." Atris hissed.

Bastila screamed and blocked their path to Revan.

"Out of the way, Bastila." Said Kavar.

"He will kill all of you if you do." She said desperately.

"He is not yet that strong." Whispered Atris, almost hopefully.

The Jedi ignited their lightsabers. Revan tried to walk to the pathway but Kavar blocked it with one of his lightsabers. Revan regarded him with a warning glance.

"Promise me you won't kill them!" Yelled Bastila. "Promise me. I love you."

Revan cursed under the mask.

"Be silent, Bastila!"

But it was too late. They had heard her. If he escaped now, they would merely turn on her in frustration. He would have to kill them all.

"I have to!" Revan roared.

"NO!"

Vandar had flipped up with a high blow, while Master Kavar brought both of his blades in a standing Sai Tok, Zez-Kai Ell attacked with a bizarre jumping side slash, while Lonna Vash spun her short saber nimbly in a Siosk fan attack, Atris moved in with a simple stab while Vrook came in low with an upward presentation.

In a confused millisecond, it was revealed that Revan had parried all of their attacks, knocked them all back and moved aside. Only Vandar managed to keep up with Revan. The little Jedi was as nimble through the force as Revan was. They kept the exchange going with a steady beat. When any of the other Masters attempted to join in and help Vandar, they were quickly thrashed aside by Revan.

Vandar leapt in a corkscrew spin with his saber above him. Revan dodged it as Vandar knew he would, but Revan grabbed the Jedi from his jump and tossed him toward the fountains with a bolt of lightening following. The Jedi curved his trajectory so he landed on a path behind the fountains which absorbed the lightening.

The fountains provided a smokescreen for Vandar as he leapt back through with his saber ready. Revan dropped to the walkway and rolled under Vandar, attacking with a chambered stab. The Jedi parried and used the parry to push himself to the far end of the walkway.

Revan righted himself instantly and charged but stopped short of Vandar in order to fling his saber at him. Vandar dodged and attacked, thinking Revan was weaponless, only to find Revan waiting with a second saber.

Revan called through the force and pulled at the water around him. He redirected the flow to manipulate Vandar's moves and to shove him aside. Revan caught his second saber as it returned. Using both sabers, it was now more of a question of swatting a fly.

The two worked their way deeper into the hallway of water. Revan made sure his blades contacted the water as often as possible.

Soon the room was overcome with steam and no one could clearly make out where Revan and Vandar were. Through the muggy fog, they could see only the occasional flashing of blades.

Minutes passed before there was an abrupt cry and the whirring of lightsabers ceased. Something splashed far below into the pit of water. When the mist had cleared, Bastila Revan and Vandar were all missing.

"Shut off the fountains!" Roared Vrook. The walls of jet streams ceased to reveal the small motionless form of Jedi Master Vandar, floating peacefully in the water below.

"Quick, come with me!" Shouted Vrook, as he ran down the catwalk.

Red lights began to flash and sirens blared. Vrook raced down the colonnade to the greater vestibule for the Temple. His eyes flashed over the marble floors before he turned and ran to the opposite end of the colonnade.

"He hasn't left! He is still here!" He bellowed back. A host of Jedi Knights were following him now. "He is on the roof!"

No creature on any world matched the raw speed of that procession, as they ascended their own flights of stairs.

TTHHEEJJEEDDIICCOOUUNNCCIILL

Revan waited patiently. He had decoyed for Bastila. The old dog, Vrook would be upon him any second. He would follow him.

Revan had his fists curled and his muscles tensed. Let him come…

"Peace is a lie."

The silver clouds of Coruscant began to seep polluted tears. They hit the hood of Revan's robe like small bombs.

"There is only passion."

"_Kill them all._" He thought.

"Through passion, I gain strength."

He heard an army of footsteps.

"Through strength, I gain power."

The skies opened up in a downpour.

"Through power, I gain victory."

In his heart, he knew Kreia had been right; he had been a fool to come back.

"Through victory my chains are broken."

Vrook and Jedi, a hundred strong, filed out onto the roof. He saw their souls; he saw how they tried to cage their excitement with peace prayers and Jedi liturgies. They were all fresh. The prospect of Dark Lord Revan, dead or alive, made their blood tingle with excitement and a touch of eagerness. Vrook, however, was a credit to the Jedi credo.

Vrook stepped forward and, on que, they all drew their sabers.

"The force shall set me free."

Revan drew his sabers and held them defensively in front of him. He watched pensively as the Jedi barely waited for Vrook's signal. Vrook had not drawn his own saber. On Vrook's face was an expression of pity and sadness.

"Revan. You do not have to die this day. Give yourself up." Revan could feel the hate boiling in him, it gushed forth at every word Vrook spoke. "I helped train you, as we all did."

Revan watched the rain trickling off of Vrook's face, when, he was struck with a vision. He did his best to keep himself steady. Years later, the temple was in ruins and a host of Sith warriors marched down the streets of Coruscant. Those misshapen things that Revan had fashioned at Malachor V were watching the temple burn.

…Vrook had to live. The Jedi Masters had to live. They had to be there to stop the coming storm.

Revan saw the faces of them all in his execution squad. His mind raced. A simple situation had gotten very complex in a short span of time.

"Well?" Vrook demanded.

"I have work to do, Vrook. I do not deny, I would like to…" Revan reached up ripped his mask off. The "oohs" and "ahhs" of the posse had no effect on him. Revan secured his mask to his belt. His yellowed eyes bore into Vrook's expressionless face. Revan smiled and shook his head. "The time just isn't convenient."

As if it were understood that there would be no peaceable solution, the Jedi raced forward. Revan felt the smash of puddles under his boots as he ran to meet them in one last battle. Every prayer on a wing, each schoolboy Jedi, the hopes and dreams of the Universe, met, there on Coruscant, under the rain.

Vrook matched his cold blue saber with Revan's twin red. The second the three sabers clashed, the schoolchildren were sent skidding to the edge of the roof and Atris, Kavar, Vash and Zez-Kai Ell had to dodge lightening.

Vrook twisted his saber like a key, trying to gain control of all three blades, when Revan merely disengaged his sabers. He brought one up in a perfectly vertical slash while stabbing in low with the second. Vrook dodged, parried and reposted. Revan parried Vrook's attack, as well as five other attacks, coming from his right, three from the left.

Not giving them time to breathe, Revan dropped to the ground in a spin, creating two hemispheres of engagement. He saw the incoming attacks and saw them parried and answered. One female Jedi, leapt backward, mortally wounded. Two over zealous Jedi knights, one was Aqualish, lost right arms. Atris gained a nice deep wound on her shoulder, as Revan rose from his low spin. As he rose, Jedi flew at his command. Some were lost over the side of the Temple.

Vrook was waiting for him with two dangerous doubling stabs, one after another. Revan dodged the first and redirected the second into a surprised Jedi Knight. In releasing Vrook's blade, Revan waved his sabers in quick half-fan slashes that dissected up to six Knights.

Vrook yanked his lightsaber from the youth's chest and tried a clever Jedi non-offensive entrapment. He lowered his center of gravity and retreated his parry influence to his left only, exposing his right. Revan wouldn't have expected it from Vrook's rough version of Shien, which was mostly devoted to throwing the opponent over with brute strength and power strokes. But Revan caught the almost chess-like tactic and employed one of his own. Instead of going for the obvious opening, Revan exposed his upper-body in a committed blade engagement to Vrook's saber.

Vrook was never an eager man who rushed things, especially not things like the Mandalorian Wars, but when he saw the exposed area on Revan, he disengaged Revan's blades and attacked high. Revan had feinted his blades' involvement and had already batted the eager attack to the left and tackled the old man to the ground, slaying three Jedi in the process.

Vrook made to get up but Revan pinned him to the ground through the force and slashed the hilt of his saber in half, barely missing his fingers. While holding Vrook in place, he quickly brushed off Zez-Kai Ell and Vash. Revan noted that only the Jedi Masters were advancing on him now.

Kavar rushed him and Revan could smell hate in him. Kavar was young and rash but a master swordsman. Revan looked over his shoulder and saw Kavar charging. Revan extinguished his sabers, ducked inside Kavar's masterful Jar'Kai Anurestinn fleche and grabbed both of his arms just above the elbow. Revan head-butted him, brushed the lightsabers from his grip, slammed Kavar's stunned body onto his knee and then tossed him into Atris.

Realizing that Vrook had been released from his grip and had grabbed another saber off the ground, he reignited his sabers just in time to shield himself from Vrook's Sai Cha. Revan smiled in surprise and almost laughed aloud; Vrook was trying to behead him. Vrook kept pressing down until he was blade-locked with Revan.

From behind him, Vash used a knight's leap and brought her yellow short saber down in a vertical cleave. Revan dislodged one of his sabers from Vrook and caught Vash's saber. He was torn between the two, trying to muscle them away from him when Zez-Kai Ell used an Exar stab directed straight at Revan's heart.

Revan waited for the perfect moment before extinguishing his sabers and flipping out of the way. To his delight, the Masters smacked into one another. Vash was winged by Zez-Kai Ell's staff and slumped to the ground.

It was a bare second before Atris attacked with her silver saber. Revan was surprised at some of the moves she employed. Some of them were more than familiar and should not have been used by a Jedi. But they were working… Revan was dodging more blows than he was inflicting.

"You are no match for me, warmonger!" She seethed.

Revan gave a soft wave of his hand and she smashed into the ground. He used the same overhead Jung Ma swings he had used against Megalo. Two deflected off of her saber, one sliced a lock of her hair away and the third scratched the roof.

After recovering from the attack, he saw that all the masters were attacking in tandem. Revan had finally worn to the point of exhaustion. He had got the workout he wanted and he had decoyed for Bastila long enough. This was over. A quick massive burst through the force and he was the only one left standing. The masters and knights were overpowered through god-like strength and bashed to the ground

No one moved…

The Jedi could've regrouped, but they staid perfectly still. Scores upon scores of Jedi lay slaughtered and the rest would not attack. Revan approached Vrook Lamar. He stared into Vrook's cold confused eyes. Revan raised his saber high into the air and swung it down. It halted barely and inch from Vrook's neck. Vrook looked over at it in surprise. The blade disappeared and Vrook was lifted into the air by a gloved-hand.

"And so ends peaceful Jedi negotiations." Revan spat. He brought Vrook's face to his own. "Lay upon the peace you have wrought, Jedi!"

Revan cast Vrook upon the dead cauterized bodies of Jedi Knights. Revan looked at them all, but none of the Masters would return his gaze. Atris was starring glassily at a dead Padawan in front of her, while holding her left hand absently over her wounded shoulder. Zez-Kai Ell was gazing, humiliated, off into the puddles that had collected on the roof. Vash had passed out and a battered Kavar was kneeling over her.

There were many things Revan could have said. But he said none of them. He pulled out of his pocket a remote and activated it. He pressed various buttons on it before it floated away.

Revan turned back to see the defeated Masters, standing once more. They were all regarding him with looks of speechless amazement and fear.

Revan ignited one of his lightsabers, which caused the Masters to tense. Revan carved, silently, a figure "X" in the roof of the Temple. Retracting the saber, he brought his mask back up from his belt and latched it in place. He regarded the mortified and humiliated Masters before he leapt over the side of the Temple.

Vrook ran to the edge in time to see a Sith Ventura Class vessel, rocket off into the sky.


	15. Unnecessary addendum

-1I know that this fic could have been written better as far as mechanics, depth and wording go, so that's why I'm concocting two fanfics to support it.

I'm writing two spin-off fics from this as a basis. I'm writing "The Adventures of Bastila Shan" as a direct sequel to "Walk on Water" and then I'm writing "The Rise of A Dark Galaxy" as a sequel of KOTOR2, Just as "Walk on Water" was of KOTOR1.

Anyway the first chapters will be out soon so look for them!

Bye!


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